It was supposed to be an opportunity to dial down tensions and help stop the bloodshed in Ukraine. Instead, a virtual summit between the European Union and China signaled a breach in relations between two economic giants.
The EU went into the meeting with a single priority: persuading Beijing to use what President Xi Jinping has called its “limitless partnership” with Russia to intervene with Vladimir Putin.
But what the summit actually achieved was to show how the war is pushing China and Europe further apart. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, characterized the April 1 talks as “a dialogue of the deaf.”
Facing up to Moscow’s aggression and the need to rapidly unwind dependence on Russian energy, built up over decades, European governments are beginning to see the danger in repeating the mistake with another authoritarian regime.
That’s causing officials in capitals from Rome to Berlin, Brussels and Prague to reassess their individual and collective relations with China.
Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis of Lithuania, the Baltic nation that tussled with Beijing over Taiwan, the island democracy China regards as its territory, describes the dawning realization as “the awakening of the West.”
China overtook the U.S. as the EU’s largest trading partner in 2020, with a total volume worth some $868 billion last year. Some German carmakers are more dependent on sales in China than America.
That level of reliance is starting to ring alarm bells, especially as the war further snarls fragile supply chains. China’s Covid Zero policy adds another layer of unpredictability.
The EU categorizes China as a partner, a competitor and a rival. Beijing’s inaction on the war means that systemic EU-China rivalry is here to stay.— Alan Crawford