European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was outlining her vision for the future of EU-China relations at a speech in Brussels on Thursday.
The speech at the European Policy Centre and Mercator Institute for China Studies comes ahead of a trip with French President Emmanuel Macron to China next week.
She was expected to stress the idea, “to focus on de-risking rather than de-coupling,” from China.
Tensions between the EU and Beijing significantly worsened over a host of issues, including the Taiwan question, China’s repression of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang, and the EU’s WTO dispute with China over its trade restrictions against member state Lithuania.
There is also concern over Beijing’s refusal to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine and its close ties to Moscow.
EU’s reluctance to turn its back on China
More pressing for Brussels would also be the difference with the United States on how to address China’s growing economic power and military might.
US President Joe Biden’s administration has been trying to persuade the EU and its members to work together to confront China.
However, as DW’s Alexandra von Nahmen writes, those efforts have only been partly successful.
In March, the Netherlands moved to ban the sale of advanced microchip technology to China, and Germany announced a security review into critical components of its mobile phone networks provided by Chinese manufacturers Huawei and ZTE.
In general, however, many EU countries are hesitant to pull away from the profitable Chinese market — first and foremost, Germany, whose biggest trading partner is China.
European leaders head to Beijing
French President Emmanuel Macron said Friday that von der Leyen would accompany him on an upcoming visit to China.
After a summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Macron said he had asked von der Leyen to come with him for part of the trip to present a “united voice” to China.
It would be von der Leyen’s first visit to Beijing as Commission president.
The European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he would visit China soon, although the date of the trip is still to be finalized.
The president of the European Council, Charles Michel, was in Beijing in December.
lo/sms (AFP, dpa, Reuters)
This article was originally published on Deutsche Welle. Read the original article here.
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