Two European representatives are currently visiting China in preparation for a forthcoming EU-China summit. The EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, landed in China for a three-day visit on Thursday 12 October.
The same day, he met with representatives of European companies and researchers from the Shanghai Institute for International Studies. On Friday 13 October, Josep Borrell is due to co-chair the ‘12th EU-China Strategic Dialogue’ and meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to discuss a number of issues relating to bilateral relations and trade.
In particular, the High Representative will have the difficult task of explaining Europe’s new “de-risking, not decoupling” policy towards China, theorised last March by Ursula von der Leyen. This approach has given rise to the concept of an EU ‘economic security strategy’ (see EUROPE 13205/7), which should lead to a review of export and investment controls.
The Union wants to assert its interests
Although the EU is at pains to repeat that the primary aim of these new guidelines is to strengthen its resilience on the world market, China suspects a false protectionism, linked to Europe’s growing awareness of its dependence on several third countries. The Commission’s announcement to open an anti-subsidy investigation against Chinese electric vehicles (see EUROPE 13264/21) has not improved relations between the two parties.
In an interview with the South China Morning Post ahead of his departure, Josep Borrell said that “Europe has no hidden agenda” vis-à-vis China. At the same time, he stressed that the EU wanted to keep the market open, but not at any price: “We will not hesitate to take action to protect ourselves against practices that we consider unfair. Nor will we authorise harmful activities that could jeopardise the national security of our Member States”.
Energy security and green transition
The European Commissioner for Energy, Kadri Simson, co-chaired the ‘EU-China High-Level Energy Dialogue’ for the first time since 2019, alongside the Director of the Chinese Energy Administration, Zhang Jianhua.
At this meeting, she invited the Chinese government to join the Global Methane Pledge and reiterated the importance of global commitments to renewable energy and energy efficiency at COP28 in Dubai.
The EU-China Energy Cooperation Platform has also launched a reference project on investment planning and zero-emission carbon infrastructure technologies.
The day before, on Wednesday 11 October, during her visit to the North China Electric Power University, the Commissioner spoke to students about the risks posed by rising geopolitical tensions to the transition to clean energy.
She said that, in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the EU did not understand China’s position and its close collaboration with Russia, and that this aggression “not only harms Europe. It harms the whole world and China. It has undermined confidence in the global energy system”. Finally, Ms Simson stressed the risk of drifting towards a world fragmented into “energy islands”: “No one will get anything out of it. And this is certainly not in the interests of Europe or China.”
Charles Michel, Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese President Xi Jinping are due to hold an EU-China summit in the near future, although no date has yet been officially announced. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys and Isalia Stieffatre)