EU to issue firm words at China summit with limited expectations
Top EU officials will raise an array of concerns from Russia's invasion of Ukraine to trade irritants in a summit with Chinese leaders on Thursday that is expected to be long on firm words, but short on outcomes.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell meet Chinese President Xi Jinping in the morning and Premier Li Qiang in the afternoon on their one-day visit to Beijing.
There will be no joint statement from Thursday's talks, EU officials said, and they do not expect concrete outcomes from the first in-person EU-China summit since 2019.
"There's not a single outstanding deliverable that will be crowning the summit," said one EU official
By contrast, Xi's meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden in California in November did produce agreements, although simmering differences remained, particularly over Taiwan.
The European Union will also have questions on Chinese intentions towards Taiwan, but its focus will be on Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The European Union wants Beijing to use its influence on Russia to stop the war, will stress the need to respect sanctions on Russia and will raise the issue of growing arms supply from North Korea to Russia.
The bloc is also concerned about what it considers "imbalanced" economic relations, saying its near 400 billion euro ($431.7 billion) trade deficit with China reflects restrictions on EU businesses.
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