Beijing Wants to Meet EU Leaders as US Ties Fray

(Bloomberg) -- China and the European Union should prepare for a meeting of their leaders, Beijing’s top foreign policy official said, a sign of the Asian nation’s efforts to court Europe amid worsening ties with the US.

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In a meeting on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, Wang Yi urged EU counterpart Josep Borrell to help “bring bilateral exchanges back to pre-epidemic levels as soon as possible.”

“Both sides should maintain openness and cooperation, resist decoupling, and work together to maintain the stability of global production and supply chains,” Wang said, according to a statement released by the Foreign Ministry in Beijing on Sunday.

China has been lobbying nations to cooperate on technology as the US reached an agreement with the Netherlands and Japan last month to restrict exports of some advanced chipmaking machinery to China, partly to curtail military advances.

China’s push could take on added urgency amid tensions with the US. Wang told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the same conference that Washington should change how it’s handling the balloon episode, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

Blinken said the craft’s entry into US airspace was an “irresponsible act that must never again occur,” and warned China against helping Russia evade sanctions linked to the invasion of Ukraine, State Department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement.

Read: Europe Reasserts Middle Path on China, Pushing Back on Biden

Xi held talks with Charles Michel, president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, via video link in April 2022.

Late last year, Xi met Michel in Beijing, where the Chinese leader urged efforts to resolve the war in Ukraine. Wang and Borrell also discussed Ukraine in their meeting on Saturday, with Wang saying China “insists on promoting peace and talks, and is willing to strengthen communication with the EU and persevere in finding a political solution.”

• Wang also met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Munich, saying his nation wants “peace and talks.”

• According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Wang also said to Kuleba: “We do not want to see the Ukrainian crisis protracted and expanded, and we are willing to work with the international community to avoid further deterioration of the situation and persevere in striving for peace.”

• Wang also met with Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. The Chinese diplomat said he hoped the Netherlands would “play a positive role in ensuring the stability of the global industrial and supply chains and promoting global economic recovery.”

(Updates with Wang meeting Kuleba.)

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