In an analysis by the pro-European think-tank Bruegel, the author, Alicia García Herrero, chief economist for Asia-Pacific at the French investment bank Natixis, looked back, on Wednesday 22 November, at the US-China Summit held in San Francisco on 15 and 16 November, and how this bilateral meeting can help the EU to define its expectations ahead of the EU-China Summit in Beijing on 5 and 6 December.
Ms García Herrero explains that the resumption of high-level military dialogue between the United States and China and the fact that Mr Xi ruled out any military confrontation with Taiwan at his dinner with US business leaders means that European officials have cleared an important hurdle ahead of their own summit in Beijing.
They could focus on economic issues such as the EU’s rapidly widening bilateral trade deficit with China and concerns about China’s industrial policy and use of subsidies for a number of key exports (see EUROPE 13271/3).
However, “EU leaders will still have to expend political capital to persuade Beijing to be more cooperative towards Ukraine, even if their efforts prove futile”, explains the author.
She also points out that the EU remains a key player in discussions on climate change, which should also be one of the objectives of the December summit.
“More generally, President Xi’s more cooperative attitude towards the United States is most likely linked to the growing domestic pressure caused by the weakening economy, which should help the EU in its negotiations at the next summit”, concludes García Herrero. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)