EU-China summit fails to move the trade dial

It will be remembered as a meeting of missed choices and opportunities

- Jonathan Eyal

LONDON - The European Union's top leaders returned from a summit in Beijing empty-handed after the Chinese government refused to offer any concessions on trade imbalances. Nor was there any movement over China's refusal to condemn Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Charles Michel, the former Belgian prime minister who represents the heads of government of the EU's 27 member nations, and Dr Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the EU's executive body, claimed that they remain optimistic about dialogue with Beijing.

"Our relationship with China is complex, and we have a responsibility to make it work," Dr von der Leyen told journalists on Dec 7 after the Beijing summit.

But the European Commission president also repeatedly referred to the talks with Chinese leaders as "frank and open", traditional diplomatic codewords for difficult and divisive negotiations.

And in an unusual development indicating enduring tensions, a senior Chinese diplomat offered a detailed point-by-point public rebuttal of the EU's negotiating positions just as the visiting EU leaders were briefing foreign correspondents in Beijing about the outcome of their summit.

This was the first face-to-face summit between China and the world's single biggest trading bloc in four years; previous EU-China summits were either cancelled because of the pandemic or were held online.

Aware of her reputation as a critic of Beijing, Dr von der Leyen sought to tone down the rhetoric during her China visit.