Brussels, Beijing Mockers got their money’s worth, for days they had been amused by the Brussels “April Fool’s Summit”. So to say that expectations for the video conference between leaders of the European Union and the Chinese regime this Friday, April 1, were muted would be an understatement.
And yet the talks, the first in this format since 2020, were of enormous importance. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even spoke of a “key moment for relations with China”.
Together with Council President Charles Michel, von der Leyen first communicated with China’s Prime Minister Li Keqiang and then with the all-powerful head of state Xi Jinping. It was not possible to agree on a joint statement, and so the Chinese leadership rushed to gain the sovereignty of interpretation with its own presentation of the summit.
President Xi, in a statement sent well ahead of the European talks summary, indicated that “China and the EU as two great powers, great markets and great civilizations” should step up exchanges “on important issues of world peace and development.” – especially against the background of the “Ukraine crisis”. The choice of words alone makes it clear that the stock of similarities between China and Europe is almost exhausted.
Top jobs of the day
Find the best jobs now and
be notified by email.
The crisis Xi is talking about is not a crisis for Europe, but a war of aggression ordered by Xi’s closest international partner, Russian ruler Vladimir Putin. Von der Leyen and Michel therefore had one thing to tell the Chinese leadership above all: that the already tense relations between China and the EU were about to be torn apart.
“After this war, nothing will be the same as before,” von der Leyen clarified after the summit meeting. And Michel stressed: “China must not ignore Russia’s violation of international law.” Providing assistance to Putin would mean “prolonging the war.”
>> Read also: Gazprom gives up its German subsidiary Gazprom Germania
The strategy of the Europeans is to hit the Chinese at a sensitive point – the international reputation of the People’s Republic. Von der Leyen warned: “No European citizen would understand if Russia received support to wage war. That would damage China’s reputation here in Europe.”
As recently as 2020, the EU had negotiated an investment agreement with China. Since then, relations have deteriorated massively. It is questionable whether the investment agreement will ever come into force. The Ukraine war could lead to even more serious consequences.
Unlike the Americans, the Europeans are not openly threatening China with sanctions, but they are making it clear that even a break in economic relations with Beijing cannot be ruled out. “It is clear that the Russian invasion of Ukraine is not only a decisive moment for our continent, but also for our relationship with the rest of the world,” emphasized von der Leyen.
The EU is serious – that was the message that the head of the Commission and the President of the Council wanted to convey.
No cracks in the relationship between China and Russia
Even if hardly anyone in Brussels expects the EU to succeed in driving a wedge between Beijing and Moscow, the EU leaders at least hope to be able to prevent direct Chinese aid to the Russian leadership. For example, in circumventing the sanctions imposed by Europeans and Americans to stop the Kremlin’s war machine. Or even arms deliveries with which the Russian armed forces could compensate for their high losses.
Secret service reports that corresponding inquiries from the Russians are being examined by China are making the Europeans nervous. Even after five weeks of war, there is no sign that the “boundless friendship” that China and Russia promised at the beginning of the year is breaking down as a result of the acts of violence in Ukraine.
On the contrary: just one day before the video switch, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov traveled to China, where his counterpart Wang Yi assured him that bilateral relations would be taken to a “new level”.
In the Ukraine war, the Chinese government describes itself as neutral, but in fact it supports Moscow’s positions on the essential points: Not only does China refuse to call the war a war and instead, like the Russians, speaks of a crisis or “military operation”. , also the Russian propaganda about alleged US bioweapons laboratories in Ukraine are spread by China’s state media.
At the same time, Beijing criticizes NATO’s eastward expansion, emphasizes Russia’s “legitimate security concerns” and condemns Western sanctions as illegal.
These are the reasons why Europeans see the relationship with Beijing at a crossroads. From the EU’s point of view, the war in Ukraine overshadows all other issues in the bilateral relationship – be it the fight against the pandemic, tackling climate change or economic cooperation.
For Xi, this is a significant risk. Because the foreign policy of the People’s Republic aims to dissuade the Europeans from following the tougher course of the USA towards China. However, that is what is happening gradually.
War welds NATO partners together
Americans and Europeans are working together as closely as they have in decades since Putin invaded Ukraine. The American view that the world is facing a new systemic conflict between democracies and autocracies is gaining ground in Brussels.
Against this background, Xi’s request to the EU “to form its own picture of China, to pursue an independent China policy and to cooperate with China” should be understood. But the Chinese government’s carefully formulated statement cannot cover up the fact that there was no rapprochement on the crucial points.
Although some observers consider China to be a potential mediator who could exert a moderating influence on the Russian president – a few weeks ago even the EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made a corresponding statement. However, there are considerable doubts in Brussels that the Chinese government wants to play this role.
Experts share this assessment: The government in Beijing has no interest in a change of power in Moscow, emphasizes the economist Alicia García Herrero. “China wants Putin to stay,” says the chief economist at French investment bank Natixis for the Asia-Pacific region. In this way, the People’s Republic can secure access to Russia’s cheap raw materials and have an ally who supports China’s position in a bipolar world order.
Beijing does not want to jeopardize its relations with the EU
On the other hand, Beijing does not want to jeopardize its relationship with the EU. “China and the EU are each other’s most important trading partners,” Prime Minister Li Keqiang said after his video call with Michel and von der Leyen. One thing is clear: In view of the growing economic problems in their own country, China’s leadership has no need for a conflict with the Europeans.
The quest to become a geoeconomic power requires “functioning relations with the West,” agrees Ryan Hass, senior foreign policy fellow at the US think tank Brookings Institution. Beijing has an incentive to avoid a full break with the West over Russia and Ukraine.
It is precisely this lever that the EU wants to use. The next few weeks will show whether this will succeed. There is skepticism in the European Parliament. Michael Gahler, EPP Group foreign policy spokesman, warns: China’s reluctance to “condemn Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and embrace Russian narratives endangers the rules-based international order and fundamental principles of international law.”
More: Five corvettes, 50 fighter jets, 350 Puma tanks – how Germany is arming itself