The EU-China summit, scheduled for 24 and 25 July in China, could be shortened by Beijing, the host of the event, to last just one day, Bloomberg reported on Thursday 3 July. This comes against a backdrop of tensions over trade and support for Russia, in the wake of Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Brussels (see EUROPE 13673/21).
For several weeks now the tone has been rising between the EU and China as the two rivals/partners celebrate 50 years of diplomatic relations this year.
The EU had already cancelled a high-level economic and trade dialogue at the end of June, due to a lack of progress on trade (see EUROPE 13661/3).
This Saturday, China plans to impose a definitive anti-dumping tariff on European spirits in response to the tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese electric vehicles (see other news).
At the EU-China strategic dialogue on Wednesday 2 July, the EU’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Kaja Kallas, called on Minister Wang to put an end to abusive trade practices, in particular export restrictions on certain critical raw materials (see EUROPE 13672/18).
On the security front, she has repeatedly urged China to stop supporting Russia in its war of aggression in Ukraine.
On this point, the South China Morning Post reported on 3 June that Mr Wang had denied supporting Russia militarily and financially. He was quoted as saying, however, that China could not afford a Russian defeat, as this would mean, in his view, that the US and its Western allies would then turn their attention to Asia.
In a public statement issued by Beijing, Mr Wang explained to Ms Kallas that disagreements “should not lead to confrontation”.
In terms of tariffs, he also called for the path taken by the United States not to be “projected” onto China, probably fearing that the EU would accept a trade agreement with the Americans that could damage Chinese interests.
With regard to the forthcoming bilateral summit, an EU Council spokesman said that the programme had yet to be finalised and that discussions were underway with the Chinese hosts to ascertain their intentions.
Unsurprisingly, our information suggests that no joint declaration is expected at the end of the summit, with the exception of a possible text on common climate ambitions. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)