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Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a number of unintended consequences.
One of the less expected was that over a year into the conflict, President Xi Jinping of China would receive a courting from European leaders. Given the EU’s hard stance on Russia, you’d be forgiven for thinking they’d take a similarly firm approach with the Kremlin’s most important ally.
Yet this week in Beijing, French President Emmanuel Macron stood next Xi – who has not condemned Vladimir Putin’s war and doubled down on China and Russia’s “no-limits partnership” – and said “I know I can count on you to bring Russia to its senses, and bring everyone back to the negotiating table.”
Relations between China and the EU have been on a strange journey over the past decade. While an investment deal was struck in 2020 after years of negotiations, it is currently on ice, in part because of political differences – the EU has called China a “system rival” – but also because the Chinese government sanctioned European Parliament members after they criticized China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslims.”
Things have been frosty ever since and the lack of personal contact during the pandemic didn’t help.
This caused great upset to some EU members, who see good economic relations with China as essential to the bloc’s ambition to become a major geopolitical player.
“Strategic Autonomy”, an ugly Brussels term that refers to the EU having an independent geopolitical policy, relied in part of the EU being able to become a third power and not get squashed between the US and China. However, the China hawks, typically in the east of the bloc, have always been sceptical of anything that puts clear water between Europe and the US, who they see as the ultimate protectors of European territory through NATO.
A reluctant partner
Prior to the visit, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the EU Commission, had criticized China’s “becoming more repressive at home and more assertive abroad.” She said that it was clear to her that China had turned the page on its reform period and that national security now trumped and international cooperation: China is seeking to reshape the global order in a way that puts China at the center.
However, she said that these were not reasons for European to walk away from China, but to reduce any risk in their partnerships, rather than decouple from China, as the US seeks to.
The European Union, often criticized for its approach to international affairs when injustice runs directly into its economic ambition, has been far harder on Russia than expected.
