China-EU Ties Gather Pace amid Rumblings of De-risking and Decoupling

Despite the din about de-risking and decoupling by some Western media, the convening of the 24th EU-China Summit in Beijing on December 7, the first in-person one since 2019, showed the significant importance the two sides attached to the bilateral relations, and their mutual intention to steer the important ties toward more fruitful cooperation.

In his meetings on that day with European Council President Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese President Xi Jinping remarked that China and the EU are two major forces advancing multipolarity, two major markets in support of globalization, and two major civilizations championing diversity. Xi observed that, amid the increasingly turbulent international situation, the China-EU relationship carries strategic significance and implications for global peace, stability and prosperity.

The China-EU Summit, co-chaired by Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Michel, and von der Leyen, was candid, in-depth, and fruitful, according to official reports. The Summit clarified the development direction of China-EU relations and pinpointed key areas for mutually beneficial cooperation. The meeting indeed embodied the two sides’ efforts to pursue constructive and stable bilateral relations, reinforce cooperation, and jointly address global challenges. 

In her comment on X, formerly Twitter, von der Leyen described the Summit as an open and in-depth meeting. “Together we will work on rebalancing our trade relations and resolve irritants. We have a joint responsibility to make our trade relations more sustainable.” 

Common interests outweigh divergences

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership. President Xi emphasized that the two sides must now take stock of history, navigate the global trend, and uphold the apt description of the bilateral relations as a comprehensive strategic partnership. Xi laid particular store on the need to develop a correct perception of each other, promote mutual understanding and trust, and honor commitments. “We should not view each other as rivals just because our systems are different, reduce cooperation because competition exists, or engage in confrontation because there are disagreements.”

The importance European leaders attach to these ties is evidenced by their successive visits to China since November 2022, not only by Michel and von der Leyen, but also by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. Meanwhile, Chinese leaders, including Premier Li Qiang, Vice President Han Zheng, and Foreign Minister Wang Yi have also visited Europe. Such frequent and close interactions and exchanges accentuate the reality whereby cooperation between China and the EU outweighs competition, and common interests take precedence over divergences. 

Commenced in 1998, until the COVID-19 pandemic, the China-EU Summit was held annually, alternately in China and Europe. The Summit strategically guided this important relationship by playing a vital role in deepening China-EU relations and promoting bilateral dialogues. Prior to this year’s Summit, the China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue resumed in September its onsite session, as did the China-EU High-level Strategic Dialogue in October. All augur a heartening development momentum of bilateral ties.  

The two sides agreed during the recent Summit to stay committed to openness and mutual benefits, to oppose decoupling and provide a fair and non-discriminatory business environment for each other’s companies, and to resolve differences appropriately through dialogue and consultation.

When talking about the recent meetings between Chinese and EU leaders at the press conference on December 8, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin remarked that the two sides, “have enhanced mutual understanding, deepened strategic communication, and built consensus for cooperation.” The two sides have agreed to leverage fully the guiding role of the China-EU Summit and the five high-level dialogues; moreover to step up dialogue and cooperation, properly manage differences, and make China-EU relations more stable and mutually beneficial. 

Ties anchored through economic and trade cooperation 

Over the past 20 years, China-EU economic and trade cooperation has proliferated and made impressive headway. The EU’s FDI stock in China rose from US $33.1 billion in late 2002 to US $157.2 billion by the end of 2022. Meanwhile, during the period 2003-2022 Chinese FDI in the EU soared from US $400 million to US $101.2 billion. 

China and the EU are major trade partners. Despite headwinds generated by a faltering global recovery, trade between China and the EU reached a record high in 2022, totaling US $847.3 billion, a 2.4 percent year-on-year increase. In 2022, China was the EU’s second largest trading partner for goods, after the US. 

The two sides’ economic complementarity has spurred bilateral cooperation in related fields. China’s advance, by virtue of its high-quality development and high-standard opening-up, has created economic development opportunities for both the EU and the world beyond. By the same token, the EU, as a unified big market and major developed economy with a population of 450 million, also wields considerable positive impact on China’s modernization progress. 

China sees the EU as a key partner in economic and trade cooperation, a preferred partner for scientific and technological cooperation, and a trustworthy partner for industrial and supply chain cooperation, President Xi stated in his recent meeting with EU leaders.  

The recently concluded first China International Supply Chain Expo (CISCE) drew the participation of 515 companies, 26 percent of whom came from abroad. In blank disregard for certain Western politicians’ call for the EU either to “decouple” or “de-risk,” U.S. and European companies accounted for 36 percent of foreign exhibitors, all intent on strengthening supply chain cooperation with their Chinese partners. 

Political pressure from their home countries, therefore, has not dampened European companies’ optimism as regards the Chinese economy. They have rather expanded steadily their presence in the country. According to an article published in the Global Times last September, French industrial software company Dassault Systemes has tripled its employees in China over the past four years, and plans to take on another 10,000 in the next three years. “Our sales target in China is to realize a 30 percent increase in 2026 to € 1 billion, and we are confident we can accomplish it,” the company’s CEO Pascal Daloz said. 

Italian manufacturer of luxury sports cars and SUVs Automobili Lamborghini saw its sales performance in the Chinese market reach a new high in 2022. “The Chinese market is very large and full of changes and vitality. Our company has always paid close attention to the development of the Chinese market to better meet the needs of Chinese consumers,” said Konstantin Sychev, managing director of Automobili Lamborghini Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, and Macao, in an interview with the Global Times.

As Xi noted in his recent meeting with Michel and von der Leyen, the two sides should now leverage their complementary strengths in regard to the market, capital, and technology in order to upgrade traditional industries and foster emerging ones, explore new modes of cooperation, foster new areas of growth, and jointly improve industrial and supply chains. 

Big concerns on both sides

However, swayed by the U.S.-led alliance of values and national security concerns, certain EU leaders still call for economic and diplomatic de-risking from China, as put forward by von der Leyen in her speech on March 30, 2023 delivered at the Mercator Institute for China Studies and the European Policy Centre. Given close bilateral economic intertwinement and big trade flow, they nevertheless anticipate more fruitful cooperation with China. 

Some experts observe that the term “de-risking” conveys a more moderate and less confrontational nuance on the part of some EU leaders, who acknowledge the impossibility of decoupling from China. Since it first appeared, the concept of de-risking in China-EU ties has been revised. Meanwhile, no consensus has been reached on that score, even within the bloc. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once remarked that it is the de-risking policy itself that constitutes the actual risk.  

On October 3, the European Commission unveiled a list of 10 technology areas that qualify as “critical” to EU economic security, out of which four (semiconductors, AI, quantum technologies, and biotechnologies) are considered as highly likely to “present the most sensitive and immediate risks related to technology security and technology leakage.” The Commission has consequently recommended collective risk assessments of these four areas. Meanwhile, the EU has launched an anti-subsidy investigation into electric vehicles (EVs) from China. “This countervailing duty investigation from Europe is based only on subjective assumptions about so-called subsidies and threats of damage. It lacks sufficient evidence to support it and is inconsistent with relevant WTO rules, and China is strongly dissatisfied with this,” a spokesperson from China’s Ministry of Commerce said.

During the recent China-EU Summit, China expressed concerns about the EU’s de-risking and restrictive economic and trade policies, including its anti-subsidy investigation into Chinese EVs. China opposes the violation of the basic norms of the market economy and opposes politicizing economic and trade issues or overstretching the concept of security, Premier Li said. 

The EU side expressed certain concerns at the China-EU Summit over trade imbalances. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin responded, “We must see that the current situation in China-EU trade results from the combined influence of the macro-economic environment, international trade conditions, and the two sides’ industrial structures.” Meanwhile, the EU’s trade deficit with China may be partly ascribed to the fact that many EU companies manufacture products in China and export them to the EU. 

At the threshold of 20 years of China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership, “it is incumbent on both sides to provide greater stability for the world and stronger impetus for development,” Xi said.