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EU-China summit on for December as wary Brussels eyes firms flouting Russia sanctions
- Bloc’s top officials confirmed to meet President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang while concerns about Beijing subsidies and Ukraine support persist
- EU will ‘remain vigilant’ and ‘carefully assess allegations of unfair practices’, its internal market boss says
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The EU-China Summit will take place on December 7 and 8 in Beijing, the bloc’s internal market boss Thierry Breton said on Friday.
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Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen – the European Council and Commission presidents – will sit down with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang, more than 18 months after the previous summit and following a period of inflamed tensions across a range of issues.
Breton confirmed the dates during a press conference in Beijing, doing so after an “intense” series of meetings there where he voiced a wish to keep engaging China while also lashing out at its persistent use of subsidies.
Months after Brussels launched an investigation into subsidies in China’s electric vehicle sector, the Frenchman said the bloc would “remain vigilant in other clean tech sectors and carefully assess allegations of unfair practices”.
“I am also concerned about the wind industry, with reports of Chinese equipment manufacturers offering European project developers 15-to-55 per cent lower prices than European wind turbines, with deferred payments of up to three years and allegedly refusing to sell components to EU competitors,” said Breton during an address to the EU Chamber of Commerce in China.
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