Xi Jinping is visiting the European Union for the first time in five years. Trade tensions and China’s position on Russia’s war in Ukraine are set to be the main sticking points.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping last visited the European Union in 2019, the world was a simpler place. No one had heard of COVID-19, Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine was far off and Brussels and Beijing were eyeing a trade and investment deal.
Relations are far frostier now: the deal is on ice after an exchange of sanctions, and an increasingly hawkish EU has brewed a list of new laws to decrease dependence on China.
Xi begins his trip in France on Sunday, before heading to Serbia and Hungary. And while he may feel the heat from the EU’s toughened stance in Paris, the welcome will be warmer in Belgrade and Budapest, both seen as more sympathetic toward Moscow and Beijing.
That’s a large part of it.
I think China is also studying the western response to Russia as they think about their own future activities in Taiwan