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The EU called on China to take its position as a geopolitical power seriously and not view the bloc “through the lens of its relations with third countries”, an allusion to Beijing officials accusing Brussels of following the United States on security issues.
Speaking on his first visit to Beijing since the outbreak, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell also warned his Chinese counterparts about the growing trade surplus between China and the EU, saying it could lead to European voters Calling for “tougher protectionist measures.”
“The war in Ukraine has made us a geopolitical power, not just an economic power,” Borrell told reporters in Beijing at the end of a visit on Saturday. During his visit, he met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
“We want to talk to China in this way: don’t look at EU relations through relations with other countries.”
Borrell’s trip comes as Beijing seeks to solidify ties with Europe to offset growing competition with the United States, which has taken steps to crack down on the sale of advanced technology to China.
But Beijing is angry that Europe has also imposed restrictions on the export of some advanced semiconductor technology, which will hit China under pressure from the United States,
Wu Hongbo, Beijing’s special representative for European affairs, told a meeting of EU ambassadors last month that European countries and companies should “decide what products to sell to China – and not other countries.”
“Europe takes China very, very seriously,” Borrell said, adding that it hoped Beijing would do the same.
Borrell said China’s trade surplus with Europe, which reached nearly 396 billion euros last year, cannot be justified solely on the basis of productivity issues or greater competitive advantage. This may have more to do with EU countries’ poor market access to the world’s second-largest economy.
Speaking at Beijing’s prestigious Peking University on Friday, he said trade imbalances were likely to become an important issue with EU elections next year.
“If the public believes that the trade imbalance with China is serious enough to endanger key industries or put our transition to climate neutrality at risk, then they will need to adopt tougher protectionist measures,” he said.
“Since our leaders were elected, they have naturally been sensitive to the needs of their constituents.”
In other speeches, he said he also called on China to use its influence over Moscow to persuade Russia to rejoin the Black Sea food deal with Ukraine to avoid another food crisis.
Russia withdrew from the deal in July after complaining that Western sanctions had blocked a parallel agreement that would have allowed Moscow to pay, insure and transport its own agricultural exports since the deal was first brokered by the United Nations and Turkey last year.
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