Reporting on the EU-China Summit taking place in Beijing has been somewhat meager: That may have to do with the fact that the EU Commission is attempting to talk China into a sacrifice of its partnership with Russia and into closer ties with Europe.
The 50th anniversary of EU-China relations summit occurred against the background of growing turbulence in relations between the two. Ahead of her trip to Beijing, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen issued a list of demands to China, including a call to scale back its cooperation with Moscow. On the eve of the summit, the EU Council approved the bloc’s 18th package of sanctions, which included restrictions on five Chinese companies and two Chinese banks for providing cryptocurrency-related services.
