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China’s leader Xi Jinping has appealed to Germany to put the brakes on the European Union’s looming trade war with Beijing.
Speaking virtually with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday, Xi launched a thinly veiled attack on the EU’s economic security strategies, and called on Germany to stay open to Chinese investments.
“[I] hope that Germany will push the European Union to uphold the principles of market and fairness, and to work with China to safeguard fair market competition and fair trade, as well as stable industrial and value chains,” the Chinese president told Scholz, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.
The European Commission has launched a probe into state subsidies behind made-in-China electric vehicles. While Xi didn’t mention the probe, the move prompted a senior official to ask the EU to “exercise restraint on the use of trade remedies.” In addition, Brussels is also facing calls to look into state subsidies for China’s wind energy and medical devices sectors.
Xi is expected to meet Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, heads of the European Commission and European Council, by the end of the year. The EU’s internal market commissioner, Thierry Breton, is due to visit Beijing and Hong Kong next week.
Beijing’s increasing focus on ideology, coercion against U.S. allies such as Japan, Canada and Lithuania, and assertive posture against Taiwan have forced EU governments to focus on so-called “de-risking” the bloc’s relationships with China. Just this week, the prime ministers of the Netherlands and Ireland — which have massive trade ties with China — are touring countries from Malaysia and Vietnam to South Korea, looking for alternative markets in Asia.
Xi appears concerned about the EU toeing the American line on China, while he is set to travel to the U.S. to meet President Joe Biden amid stiffening competition between the world’s two largest economies.
“China-Europe relations is key to the stability of the world order and the Eurasian continent’s prosperity,” Xi said. “China sees Europe as a comprehensive strategic partner, and an important pole in the multipolar [world].” The reference to the multipolar world is Beijing’s common attack on what it sees as a world order preferred by the U.S.
In a short statement, the chancellor’s office said Scholz “exchanged views on bilateral relations and cooperation in the economic sector” with Xi.
According to Xinhua, Scholz expressed interest in “deepening German-Chinese relations” and in the “biggest successes for German companies in China,” without any mention of his stance on EU-China relations specifically.
