EU will urge China at a summit not to help Russia in the war in Ukraine

The leaders of the European Union and China will hold their first summit in two years on April 1, with Brussels keen for assurances that Beijing will neither supply arms to Russia nor help Moscow evade Western sanctions imposed over its aggression in Ukraine.

In unusually public language, EU officials close to preparations for the summit said any help to Russia would damage China’s international reputation and jeopardise its relations with Europe and the US, its two biggest trading partners.

Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, presidents of the European Commission and The European Council, will hold video talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping respectively.

On Friday, an EU official said China’s stance on Russia would be the “million-dollar question.” Another official noted that China’s trade with the EU and US accounted for more than a quarter of its global trade last year, compared with just 2.4 per cent with Russia.

“Do we prolong this war, or do we work together to end it?” This is a key issue for the summit, “the official said.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi this week reiterated China’s call for peace talks and said the legitimate concerns of all sides should be accommodated.

Wang Yiwei, a European expert at Renmin University in Beijing, said both China and the EU wanted the war to end.

“I think China will want to use this summit to discuss with the EU how to create acceptable conditions for Mr Putin to abandon his current position,” he said.

China itself is worried that European countries will take tougher foreign policy cues from the United States and has called on the European Union to “exclude external interference” in its relations with China.

Bilateral relations between China and Europe are already strained.

In 2019, the EU suddenly shifted from soft diplomatic language to calling China a systemic competitor, but at the same time seeing it as a potential partner in the fight against climate change or pandemics.

Brussels and Beijing reached an investment agreement at the end of 2020 aimed at addressing some eu concerns about mutual market access.
However, Beijing blacklisted individuals and entities from the EU after Brussels imposed sanctions on Chinese officials for alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region. The investment treaty is on hold.

Since then, the Baltic state of Lithuania has allowed Taiwan to establish a de facto embassy in its capital. Lithuania’s move angered Beijing. China suspended imports from the country. China regards the democratically ruled island as its own territory.