Berlin (EAST SEA) Thursday, April 6th, 2023 / 10:45 AM

Europe’s relationship with China reaches new critical juncture

European officials are traveling to China in the hope of persuading Beijing to denounce Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and cool its recent kinship with the Kremlin.

The 27-member bloc walks a tightrope, looking to develop economic ties with China but also reaffirming a close political and cultural relationship with the United States. This has became particularly difficult with the U.S. administration ramping up its anti-Beijing rhetoric and, even more so, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of its neighbor.

“It is clear that our relations have become more distant and more difficult in the last few years,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said in a speech Thursday ahead of her trip to Beijing this week.

“We have seen a very deliberate hardening of China’s overall strategic posture for some time. And it has now been matched by a ratcheting up of increasingly assertive actions,” she added.

Von der Leyen is traveling to Beijing alongside France’s President Emmanuel Macron this week. Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met China’s President Xi Jinping last week. Europe’s top foreign affairs diplomat, Josep Borrell, is heading to China next week.

“A lot of Europeans [are] going to China,” Borrell said Tuesday, adding that they have a clear message.

“Its position on Russia’s atrocities and war crimes will determine the quality of our relations with Beijing. In the meantime, the European Union stands united and our transatlantic community remains also united,” he said.

China has failed to condemn Russia’s onslaught in Ukraine. In a visit to Moscow in March, China’s leader Xi Jinping referred to his Russian counterpart as a dear friend.

Beijing in February proposed a 12-point peace plan for the Ukraine war. The plan fails to specify whether Russia needs to leave Ukrainian territory for a deal to be completed. Ukraine has made it clear it will not agree to any peace deal that does not involve regaining full control of its territory, including Crimea which the Kremlin annexed in 2014.

“Europe has converged quite a lot to the position of the United States,” Niclas Poitiers, a research fellow at Bruegel, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Europe” Monday, adding that Brussels wants to reduce dependencies on China. The EU was heavily reliant on Russia for energy and it now wants to avoid similar mistakes with other parts of the world.

“Overall, there is a consensus that we need to do something about our overreliance on China and ensure they don’t blackmail small member states,” Poitiers said.

Macron will first meet newly appointed Premier Li Qiang at the Great Hall of the People, before Li heads for a “working lunch” with von der Leyen, who will be on her first trip to China since becoming European Commission President in late 2019.

Later in the afternoon, Macron and von der Leyen will separately hold talks with President Xi Jinping before all three hold trilateral talks in the evening.

Both Macron and von der Leyen have said they want to persuade China to use its influence over Russia to bring peace in Ukraine, or at least deter Beijing from directly supporting Moscow in the conflict. Russia calls the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation”.

Macron, travelling with a 50-strong business delegation including Airbus, luxury giant LVMH and nuclear energy producer EDF, is also expected to announce deals with China./.

CNBC/CNA

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