While the EU acknowledges its differences with China, the bilateral summit scheduled for 24 July in Beijing does not promise any major progress on trade relations or on the EU’s security demands.
This event, cut short by China to a single day (see EUROPE 13674/3), is unlikely to produce any concrete results, as a European official made clear on Friday 18 July: “A good conversation, a good exchange, at the highest level, on all the subjects of interest and concern, is (already) ‘a good result’”.
Question mark over a joint declaration on climate. The only joint declaration likely to emerge from the summit concerns a commitment on climate change ahead of COP30 in Brazil in November.
While discussions have been underway for several weeks to put the finishing touches on this declaration, several sources believe that it could just as well not see the light of day. European Commissioner for Climate Wopke Hoekstra even explained to the Financial Times on 6 July that the EU was expecting greater efforts from the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, and that without concrete guarantees, it would be complicated to agree on this type of joint declaration with China (see EUROPE 13680/12).
“Time is short because, frankly, we decided to start working on this at a later stage. Let’s see what happens”, explained another European official.
The EU’s priority is to rebalance the economy. As well as celebrating 50 years of diplomatic relations, the EU-China summit comes against a backdrop of heightened trade tensions. The latest developments concern the restricted access of medical devices from China and the EU to each other’s public procurement markets (see EUROPE 13675/19, 13664/23) and the imposition of a Chinese anti-dumping tariff on European brandy (see EUROPE 13674/4).
Generally speaking, “Europe’s access to China is limited. Last year, our trade deficit doubled. It exceeded €300 billion. There is no fair competition”, explained the top European official. In his view, the European Commission’s message will be: “The current situation is unsustainable. We need a rebalancing”.
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council António Costa will be discussing these trade and economic issues with Prime Minister Li Quiang in the afternoon.
Before that, in the morning, they will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping to discuss more geostrategic and geopolitical issues, but will also have more direct and technical discussions on economic matters.
Some discussions initiated as part of the bilateral strategic dialogue on 2 July (see EUROPE 13673/21) will be continued, such as China’s industrial and military support for Russia in its war of aggression in Ukraine (see other news), as well as tensions in the South China Sea and in the Taiwan Strait.
The EU will also raise its continuing concerns about deteriorating human rights, particularly in the Xinjiang region, Tibet and Hong Kong. (Original version in French by Pauline Denys)