China’s Russia ties after Xi visit to Moscow loom large as EU leaders gather for Brussels summit
- Concerns over new ‘world order’ with China in the driver’s seat expected to feature in two-day European Council summit
- Draft conclusions seen to touch upon major EU grievances against Beijing, including fears it might choose to arm Russia against Ukraine.
China was not named on the official agenda but would feature in talks about trade, competitiveness and Ukraine, according to national leaders arriving in Brussels for the two-day European Council meeting, as well as officials and diplomats involved in its planning.
According to a late draft seen by the Post, the council would urge “all countries not to provide material or other support for Russia’s war of aggression”, and focus on “reducing strategic dependencies” – a catch-all term for the EU’s reliance on China for critical raw material supplies.
“The war is calling into question the world order. And we’ve got to be very careful because this is what’s at stake,” a senior EU official involved in the drafting said on condition of anonymity.
“We’ve seen that with the meeting between Xi and Putin,” the official said, referring to remarks made by the Chinese leader as he took his leave of Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.