EU-China relations remain ‘on rocks’

EU COUNCIL President Charles Michel becomes the latest senior European leader to visit Beijing on Thursday (Dec 1) amid perceptions of intra-EU splits on China policy.

In the first half of November, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also visited Beijing, becoming the first G7 leader to go there since the start of the pandemic. In a trip that was very closely watched in key European capitals, including Brussels, Paris, and London, Scholz also walked a political tightrope in Germany given the political sensitivity.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, the leader of the Green Party, said it was “crucial to make clear in China the messages that we laid down together in the (German) coalition agreement… China is our partner on global issues, that we cannot decouple in a globalised world, but that China is also a competitor and increasingly a systemic rival”. Even German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, whose role is largely ceremonial, said that “we must learn lessons, and learning lessons means that we must reduce unilateral dependencies wherever possible. This applies to China in particular”.