The European Union and China are set to hold a summit on Dec. 7-8, according to people familiar with the matter.
The European Commission and Council presidents, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, would travel to China for the first in-person summit with Beijing’s leadership in four years. China has yet to publicly confirm the date or venue for the meeting.
The summit comes after a series of high-level dialogs earlier this year on issues including trade and foreign policy.
The two sides will have a rich agenda to discuss. The EU has articulated a new strategy of de-risking from China by reducing its dependency in critical sectors and supplies, as well as mitigating Beijing’s ability to get its hands on advanced technologies that could be used for military purposes.
At the same time, the EU has said it won’t decouple from Bejing and wants to maintain access to China’s massive market. Beijing wants its firms to keep selling their goods to Europe.
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One the most significant topics of conversation is likely to be the EU’s ongoing anti-subsidies investigation into electric vehicles made in China. The bloc has also been asking Beijing to help solve several issues, such as allowing companies operating in the Asian nation to transfer data out of the country.
The EU will be keen to ensure that China doesn’t materially support the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine with lethal aid and that Beijing does more to curtail the supply of technologies and components that the EU has restricted and are used by Russia to manufacture weapons.
When the EU’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, visited Beijing last month, he told a group of students that China hasn’t been using its influence with Russia to halt the war in Ukraine.
“We consider it essential that China makes a major effort to convince the people of Ukraine that China is not Russia’s ally in this war,” he said. “I think China should step up humanitarian assistance to Ukraine.”
Bloomberg
The European Commission and Council presidents will travel to China for the first in-person summit with Beijing’s leadership in four years.Photographer: Thierry Charlier/AFP/Getty Images
