Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is on a European visit with stops in Brussels, Berlin, and Paris. It marks the latest round of high-level diplomatic engagement between China and the EU as both sides seek to stabilize ties amid mounting global uncertainty and trade tensions. Li Jianhua has more on the story
00:00China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to arrive in Brussels for a visit marking 50 years of diplomatic relations between China and the EU.
00:08His visit comes as China extends its anti-dumping duties on stainless steel products from the EU and the UK.
00:16Trade tensions are expected to be discussed during Wang's meetings with European officials.
00:21Let's talk to our correspondent Li Jianhua, who's watching events for us in Brussels.
00:25Jianhua, this could be a significant gathering.
00:30Wang Yi is a week-long trip for the Chinese Foreign Minister, which will bring him to here, Brussels and Berlin and Paris after that.
00:39So the visit comes at a time when China and the EU are marking their 50 years of diplomatic relations amid growing global geopolitical tensions.
00:49So below here are the itineraries.
00:52He is expected to meet the Belgian Prime Minister, Bart Deweyver,
00:55and Deputy Prime Minister, who is also the Foreign Minister of Belgium, Maxime Prevost.
01:00And he will meet the President of the European Council, Antonio Costa and co-chair,
01:05the 13th round of China-EU high-level strategic dialogue.
01:11And after that, he suspects his visit the largest two economies in the European Union, Germany and France.
01:17And the objective, according to the Chinese Foreign Minister, is to build trust and lay the political groundwork for future interactions between Chinese and EU officials,
01:28which refers to the upcoming China-EU summit.
01:31Like any other relationship, China and the EU, they have common grounds, but they also have differences.
01:38They do have some common grounds and wide-range areas of cooperation, including their strong commitments to multilateralism and also tackling climate change.
01:48And the European Union is China's second-largest trading partner, with the bilateral trade volume standing at about 780 billion U.S. dollars in 2024.
01:58But the staking points or the tensions there is set in the opening are where the attention is.
02:03The European Union stamped additional tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, citing unfair trade practices.
02:09China also launched anti-dumping investigations into pork and brandy exports from the European Union.
02:15And very lately, the European Union excluded Chinese companies from its government's procurement of medical devices exceeding 5 million U.S. dollars,
02:25around 6 million, around 5 million euros, about 6 million U.S. dollars.
02:31And also today, just hours ago, China's Commerce Ministry released a statement saying that Beijing will continue imposing anti-dumping duties on some steel products,
02:41including those from the European Union.
02:44So these are the backgrounds of this visit.
02:46Kaya Kalis, who is the EU's foreign policy chief, says we need a dose of realism in the bloc's dealings with China.
02:54So all eyes are on whether Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit will ease some of the tensions between the two parties.
