BRUSSELS — The EU’s two leaders will fly to China next month for the first face-to-face summit to be held in four years, amid a flurry of trade and security concerns stemming from Beijing’s geopolitical ambition.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen mentioned the schedule while addressing a conference of EU ambassadors on Monday, calling for a “clear-eyed” approach to Beijing’s hardening global posture.
“We have invested in intensive dialogue with Beijing — from four High-Level Dialogues to the upcoming Summit in December,” von der Leyen said.
Her European Council counterpart, Charles Michel, will also attend the summit, while either President Xi Jinping or Premier Li Qiang is expected to co-chair it. Beijing has yet to announce a date or a venue for the talks.
Von der Leyen hailed the EU for mounting trade defense measures, including the Commission’s probe into state subsidies behind made-in-China electric vehicles. She also doubled down on the need to de-risk from China, a concept that she first proposed before it was adopted more broadly by the G7 club of rich nations.
“By now China is our most important trading partner in terms of goods. But at the same time, concerns about unfair and at times predatory practices distorting our market are rising,” she said, citing “trade coercion, boycotts of European goods, and export controls on critical raw materials.”
She added: “This shows that while we do not want to decouple from China, we do need to de-risk parts of our relationship.”
Von der Leyen stressed that Beijing’s views on global security “are not by default aligned with ours.”
“We must get China right. We must recognise that there is an explicit element of rivalry in our relationship,” she said. “The Chinese Communist Party’s clear goal is a systemic change of the international order, with China at its center.”
