China-EU summit eyes ‘achievable wins’ as Beijing signals cooperation amid deepening rifts

ISTANBUL 

As China and the European Union mark 50 years of diplomatic ties, Chinese President Xi Jinping is preparing to host top EU officials Thursday for a high-stakes summit in Beijing aimed at salvaging strained relations and exploring what experts call “achievable wins.”

European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will hold separate talks with Premier Li Qiang and President Xi, with a packed agenda ranging from trade frictions and rare earth supply to the war in Ukraine and the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Originally planned as a two-day event, the summit was trimmed to include only meetings in Beijing — a move that, according to Beijing-based Asia analyst Einar Tangen, reflects China’s growing frustration with what it sees as the EU’s inflexibility.

Amid calls to “balance” more than $860 billion in bilateral trade, Einar said the summit had deliverables despite existing tensions.

China, according to Einar, is looking for “achievable wins,” including a joint statement on climate cooperation, trade de-escalation, including conditional rare earth export assurances to ease EU industrial pain and compromises that soften electric vehicle tariffs.

“Dialogue resuscitation signals exist,” he said, referring to lifting mutual sanctions on parliamentarians.

Einar said the EU was “trapped” between US protectionism amid 30% tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump, and China’s economic scale.

“It is critical of EU elites for prioritizing ideological fixations; on values and Ukraine over mutual economic benefits. The contradiction is stark. While the EU rhetorically champions multilateralism, its alignment with US tech sanctions and confrontational rhetoric undermines its own autonomy in Beijing’s eyes,” he said, referring to the bloc’s accusations that China was “enabling Russia.”

He said public accusations by von der Leyen that China “enables Russia’s war economy” had “poisoned the dialogue well.”

“Beijing sees this as the EU subordinating its interests to US geopolitics,” he added.

Einar said China granting conditional rare earth access to the EU could return the two sides to a “normalized trade.”

But “cooperation requires the EU to embrace reciprocity — or face accelerated decline,” he said.​​​​​​​

Anadolu Agency website contains only a portion of the news stories offered to subscribers in the AA News Broadcasting System (HAS), and in summarized form. Please contact us for subscription options.