EU-China Summit: relations at the crossroads

On 24 July, "two big guys" - the EU and China - assembled for their leaders summit. Commemorating 50 years of the relations, both sides acknowledged that the relations are at a critical junction.

The EU-China Summit of 2025 could have been different than the previous ones: it marked not only the 50th anniversary of the relations but it came at a critical moment of global development. With Donald Trump being elected to the White House again, both the EU and China face unprecedented global trade distortions and a new security environment.

Prior to the Summit, these circumstances had led to multiple speculations: Beijing and Brussels, some argued, could coordinate more closely to respond more forcefully to unilateral US actions. Others speculated that the EU could be inclined to sacrifice the relations with China for the sake of improving the atmosphere with the new US administration.

Neither of the two predictions came true. Instead, the Summit appeared to be rather business as usual. Just like after every summit since 2019, both sides could not agree on a joint statement - with the exception of a vaguely worded press release on climate cooperation. But both sides also strived for improving the atmosphere.

Prior to the Summit, I penned a short commentary arguing to identify minimum criteria for cooperation instead of repeating maximalist positions. These criteria should be hard but not impossible to meet for China. You find the commentary here.

I have also provided some comments (in German) to tagesschau.de and ARD radio stations as well as Süddeutsche Zeitung. You can find the article of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the report including the audio of Tagesschau here.