The 25th EU-China summit in Beijing on 24 July underscored the deepening deadlock in relations, with neither side showing signs of compromise. The Summit marked the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the European bloc and China.

The EU continues to cite China’s support for Russia in the war against Ukraine,  and its unfair trade practices as key obstacles. Beijing, meanwhile, appears to be banking on frictions in EU-US relations to push EU member states toward a more conciliatory approach.

Beijing appears to overlook the extent to which Brussels remains closely aligned with Washington, leaving little room for any significant policy shift in favour of China.

An EU press release issued after the meeting reiterated well-worn concerns, touching on familiar themes including trade, human rights , the war in Ukraine, the Middle East, and Iran.

Growing Trade Imbalances

The President of the European Council, António Costa, and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met with China’s President, Xi Jinping, followed by a meeting with Premier Li Qiang. EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, also participated in the meetings but she kept a low profile.

In her summit speech, Ursula von der Leyen called for a rebalancing of trade relations with China.

“Our bilateral trade in goods now exceeds 2 billion euro per day. Europe has supported China's economic development for decades and continues to do so. But as our cooperation has deepened,  so have the imbalances. We have reached an inflection point. Rebalancing our bilateral relation is essential,”  von der Leyen told  the summit. 

However, current trade relations remain critically unbalanced, with the EU trade deficit in goods reaching 305 billion euro. The EU-China bilateral trade relationship was worth 730 billion euro in 2024.

On his part, Xi told the two EU leaders that “The challenges facing Europe today do not come from China,”, adding that there “are no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions between China and Europe.”

Expectations Were Low

An EU statement said Brussels reiterated its deep concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang and Tibet, forced labour, the treatment of human rights defenders and persons belonging to minorities, as well as the continued erosion of fundamental freedoms in Hong Kong. The EU reaffirmed its consistent One China policy and expressed concerns about increased tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Heightened instability in the East and South China Seas threatens regional and global prosperity and security.

The EU-China declaration on climate protection, was the only concrete outcome of the summit as it is seen as  an official agreement on a defining issue of the 21st century.

The expectations in advance of Thursday’s EU-China summit were  quite low as Beijing had cut the two-day meeting to a single day encounter.

Expressing the wider European mood, a Brussels-based think tank, the European Policy Centre, commented that the summit “was no occasion for fireworks. If the political and diplomatic ties between the two sides have been gradually deteriorating in recent years, economic and trade relations, although still strong, also show no signs of improving.”

“Relations between the EU and China have been on a downward slope for a few years, and this negative trend is likely to continue,” it noted. “In March 2019 the EU adopted a new strategy that classified China as a 'partner', an 'economic competitor', and a 'systemic rival'. Beijing rejected this approach from the get-go, especially the notion of rivalry, but the growing problems in the relationship seemed to confirm that ties were changing for the worse” it opined.

EU-India FTA This Year?

Incidentally, the EU-China Beijing summit took place the same day when India and the United Kingdom signed a landmark Free Trade Agreement (FTA) aimed at enhancing economic ties and boosting bilateral trade, with expectations of reaching 120 billion US dollars by 2030.

The EU and India are also expected to sign an FTA by the end of this year.

(The author is an Indian journalist who is a long time resident in Brussels and covers the EU. Views expressed are personal. He can be reached nawabbk98@gmail.com )