The 23rd EU-China summit was held on April 1, 2022 via video conference. President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang, President of the European Council Charles Michel, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and High Representative Josep Borrell attended the meeting.
The main focus of the summit was on the war in Ukraine The leaders also discussed the state of bilateral relations and areas of shared interest such as climate change, health, trade and digital economy.
President Xi Jinping called on the EU to adopt an independent China policy, exclude external interference from China-EU relations and work with China to add stabilizing factors to the turbulent world.
The EU reaffirmed its commitment to the one-China principle and expressed its desire for deepening cooperation with China in trade, investment, energy and green development to jointly face global challenges like COVID-19, climate change, protection of biodiversity and promote world peace, economic growth and common prosperity.
On the Ukraine crisis China shared its four-point views on how to find a solution:
promote peace talks
prevent a humanitarian crisis through China six-point initiative and humanitarian aids
foster lasting peace. China supports the EU, in playing a primary role and supports Europe, Russia, the US, and NATO in holding dialogue to find solutions, so as to build a balanced, effective, and sustainable security framework in Europe.
manage the spillovers. China and the EU need to commit themselves to keeping the situation under control and maintaining the system, rules, and foundation of the world economy stable. The two sides may carry out coordination and cooperation in this regard.
The EU told China not to allow Russia to circumvent Western sanctions imposed over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Relating trade and investments Premier Li Keqiang told China will continue to foster a market-oriented and law-based business environment up to international standards and treat enterprises of all types of ownership as equals. Premier Li expressed the hope that China and the EU remain open to each other, steadily expand market access, protect fair competition and promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation.
President of the European Council Charles Michel and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen noted that both the EU and China are important members of the multilateral system and China is an important stakeholder. They expressed the EU's will to engage in close cooperation with China in such areas as COVID response, economy and trade, investment, and protection of geographical indications, and expand cooperation on the digital economy, energy transition, cyber security, humanitarian efforts and climate actions.
The EU also called China for the lifting of restrictive measures against Lithuanian exports and members of the European Parliament.
Concerning the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, China and EU discussed cooperation on the vaccination campaign and reopening of the economy and confirmed its commitment to work together with other Member States of the World Health Organization on a new agreement on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response.
China-EU Relations factsheet
Silk Council
Press office