EU foreign policy chief Josep Borell. File
| Photo Credit: REUTERS
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell arrived in China on Thursday, looking to manage the bloc’s “de-risking” strategy with its largest trading partner while laying the foundations for a planned summit this year.
The visit comes just days after war broke out between Israel and Hamas, prompting Mr. Borrell to assemble an emergency meeting of European foreign ministers. China has called on all parties to “cease fire”.
Mr. Borrell’s trip, which was postponed twice this year and is expected to last until Saturday, started in Shanghai with a meeting with European companies on economic and business challenges, described by Borrell as an “inspiring exchange”.
“We must address these challenges because neither we nor China can ignore each other’s market,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
On Friday Mr. Borrell will hold meetings in Beijing, including with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, that will tackle issues including bilateral relations, global challenges and trade.
Earlier he said it was “an important visit to discuss EU-China relations, key regional and global challenges with government authorities, scholars and business representatives”.
The EU says the trip — the latest in a string of high-level EU-China dialogues — “should culminate in the EU-China summit later this year”.
Relations between the EU and China have been heavily strained since the Russian invasion of Ukraine last February, which Beijing has stopped short of condemning.
Rather than halting dialogue completely, Brussels is pushing for an approach with Beijing that balances its concerns over relying too much on China while also maintaining ties with the world’s second-largest economy.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has defined the position as “de-risking rather than decoupling” from China.