Philip Blenkinsop, Yew Lun Tian

BRUSSELS/BEIJING – The EU leaders and Chinese leaders will meet Friday for their first summit in nearly two years. Brussels wants assurances that Beijing won’t supply Russia with weapons or allow Moscow to bypass Western sanctions imposed on it over its invasion of Ukraine.

Officials from the EU close to preparations for the summit spoke out in unusually candid language. They stated that any assistance given to Russia could damage China’s international reputation as well as jeopardize relations with the United States and Europe, which are its largest trade partners.

Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen, presidents of European Commission/European Council respectively, will have virtual discussions with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, and then President Xi Jinping.

On Friday, an EU official claimed that China’s position towards Russia would be the “million-dollar issue.” One other pointed out that more than a quarter China’s international trade last year was with the United States and the bloc, compared to 2.4% with Russia.

Do we continue this war, or work together to bring an end to it? This is the crucial question to be asked at the summit,” the official stated.

Wang Yi, China’s Foreign Minister, reiterated China’s demand for peace talks.

Wang Yiwei of Beijing’s Renmin University is an expert in Europe and said that China as well as the EU want the war to stop.

“I can imagine China would use the summit to discuss how the EU could create conditions that allow Putin to step down,” he stated.

China is concerned that European countries take more hardline foreign policy cues form the United States. It has asked for an EU “to exclude external interference” in its relations with China.

They were already in trouble.

In 2019 the EU abruptly changed its soft diplomatic language and now calls China a systemic enemy. However, it sees China as an opportunity partner for climate change mitigation or pandemic control.

At the end 2020, Beijing and Brussels signed an investment agreement. It was intended to address EU concerns regarding reciprocal market access.

The suspension of it comes after sanctions imposed in Brussels on Chinese officials for alleged human rights violations in the Xinjiang Region. Beijing also blacklisted EU persons and entities.

China stopped imports from Lithuania since the Baltic country allowed Taiwan to open de facto an embassy in the capital. Beijing has become angry at Taiwan, who considers the democratically-ruled island its own territory.