To say relations between the European Union and China are going through a rough patch would be an understatement.
Despite a series of diplomatic overtures to allay concerns, the links between the two powers have become visibly strained, with suspicions and warnings voiced in public view.
“It is clear that our relations have become more distant and more difficult in the last few years,” Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said in a speech last week, delivered ahead of her trip to Beijing.
“We can expect to see a clear push to make China less dependent on the world and the world more dependent on China.”
Von der Leyen’s speech, which Beijing criticised as incoherent and misleading, offered a blunt, and at times scathing, assessment of the current state of EU-China relations, name-checking the Communist Party for promoting an “alternative vision of the world order.”
The speech, however, should not be seen as an isolated episode of political frankness.
Instead, it should be put in a broader context, in which long-standing grievances are being exacerbated by new disagreements, most notably regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine and China’s self-declared mission as a neutral peace-broker.
But tensions run much deeper.
Watch the video above to discover the main friction points in EU-China relations.
