WATCH Europe Today: China and EU - has summit restored trust?
Following Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's and Council President Antonio Costa's meeting with Chinese premier Xi Jinping in Beijing, Euronews' Europe Today assesses the progress made with interviews, exclusive reporting and analysis.
READ MORE : http://www.euronews.com/2025/07/25/watch-europe-today-china-and-eu-has-summit-restored-trust
Subscribe to our channel. Euronews is available on Dailymotion in 12 languages
00:00Hello, it's Friday the 25th of July and you're watching Europe Today, where we'll be bringing
00:21you reactions to the EU-China Summit in Beijing. There was a joint statement on climate cooperation,
00:27but little more. And on the most contentious issue of trade and economics, the differences
00:33between both sides were laid bare. So we have reached a clear inflection point.
00:39As we said to the Chinese leadership, for trade to remain mutual beneficial, it must become more
00:49balanced. President Xi Jinping, meanwhile, claimed the EU's problems don't come from China and that
00:55the European bloc should properly handle differences and frictions. Let's cross over to our journalist
01:01Jorge Liborero, who was following the Beijing talks for us from Brussels. Jorge, welcome
01:06to the show. First, is it fair to say that on the issue of trade, EU leaders von der Leyen
01:12and Costa left Beijing with very little results?
01:16Yes, Maret, indeed. There were little results, but at least there was one commitment, which
01:20is new to establish an upgraded mechanism to monitor the supply chain of critical raw materials.
01:27This, of course, comes after Beijing restricted the exports of these materials that we need
01:32for the defense and technological sectors. And Brussels was very mad about it. We remember
01:39Ursula von der Leyen denouncing the restrictions as blackmail. So we can consider this mechanism
01:45as a sort of breakthrough, even though it's still unclear how much it will improve the situation
01:51for European companies.
01:53And also, Jorge, President von der Leyen did say that more progress on trade was both needed
01:58and possible. Do you think it's realistic or is it just wishful thinking from her side?
02:03Well, Maret, I think, honestly speaking, that's more on the wishful thinking side because we
02:08know that China has so far refused to make any substantial or tangible concessions when it comes
02:13to trade. The main problem right now is overcapacity, and we know how the story goes. The subsidies
02:19that China injects in domestic companies to boost production. But China doesn't have the internal
02:26capacity to absorb this production. So these products go to international markets, including
02:31the European market. Ursula von der Leyen and Antonio Costa called and demanded for immediate
02:37change to this overcapacity. The relation, they say, is unsustainable. But so far, we don't see any
02:45willingness from the Chinese leadership to really curtail this capacity. So the issue is expected to remain
02:51high on the agenda.
02:53Jorge, thank you so much for that update. Now, Brussels and Beijing are in talks to set minimum prices on
02:59Chinese-made electric vehicles instead of the tariffs imposed by the EU last year. There was hope this
03:06summit could help find a breakthrough, but the deadlock remains. Earlier, I spoke to Lothar Schuppert, the CEO of
03:12Seeker Europe, which is the EV arm of Geely Holdings, one of the Chinese companies impacted by EU tariffs.
03:25Mr. Schuppert, welcome to the show. Give us a sense first of Seeker's expansion plans in Europe.
03:33Where are those plans at? And how are they being impacted by the EU's tariffs on China-made electric
03:41vehicles?
03:42Yeah, thank you for having me here. First of all, we have been launching Zika as a brand in Europe now for
03:48a little bit more than two years and have been launching first in the Nordic markets where we have
03:54a high EV adoption rate in Norway, Sweden, Denmark. And now we're continuing the growth in further
04:02countries like Belgium, Switzerland and several others. Are the tariffs introduced by the European
04:08Union an obstacle to those expansion plans? Will you, for example, have to consider moving more
04:13production to Europe? So, our commitment is clearly here, but the tariffs are hindering us
04:19moving in that speed forward since last year. However, we have done our homework and we are now
04:26very much convinced that our sustainable go-to-market approach is now prepared after they have been
04:34announced. So, our commitment is to expand further. Our commitment is to deliver high-level premium
04:40products to our consumers in Europe. Finally, Mr. Schuppert, you mentioned that you want free trade,
04:48but then the EU is saying, well, this trading relationship is unbalanced because China is pumping
04:55subsidies into companies like yours, something the Chinese do not openly acknowledge. Do you accept that the
05:03EU has big concerns about an unbalanced level playing field here? I am following the discussion very closely.
05:14But I think our big homework is to gain the trust of the consumers. And that is where our main work is
05:22on now launching the markets, creating a brand experience and having a clear relationship to the
05:29consumers in Europe convincing with the products and also attractive pricing and price value preposition
05:38where we can be successful. And the last months, looking into our sales in the markets where we are live,
05:45is proving that we are really on the right track.
05:48That was the CEO of Seeker Europe speaking to Europe today. Now, as well as the unbalanced trade
05:56relationship, EU leaders voiced other concerns to their Chinese counterparts, including human rights
06:01and China's no-limits partnership with Russia. Alessio Delana has more.
06:06Is China the EU's toughest balancing act? Brussels is stuck between human rights and economic priorities
06:14when dealing with its top import partner. Ties have rarely been this strained. It began in 2021,
06:22with the EU sanctioning Chinese officials and entities over reports of mass detentions and forced labor
06:29of the Uyghur ethnic minority. China retaliated, but relations soured more a year later when Beijing
06:37refused to condemn Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Instead, China massively increased trade
06:44with Moscow, offsetting the impact of EU sanctions. Trade between Russia and China more than doubled
06:51between 2022 and 2024, fueled by Chinese purchases of Russian energy, notably coal and oil, while Beijing
07:01increased EV sales to Russia by almost 600%. Brussels' response was to target Chinese banks with sanctions,
07:10but according to the EU, the Russia-China bond is increasingly nuanced. Reports say Chinese state-controlled
07:18media and social media channels are providing a platform to Russia and amplifying pro-Kremlin narratives.
07:26Up to that, concerns for China's security crackdown in Hong Kong and territorial claims on Taiwan.
07:33With so many faulty lines, can EU-China relations still find a way forward?
07:42That was Alessio Delana reporting there. Now, I'm joined by two members of the European Parliament,
07:48Cynthia Ni-Murhu from the Renew Europe Group and Lucas Mandel of the EPP. Welcome to you both to the show.
07:56Do you feel there was a lost opportunity here as well for the EU to take a harsher line on China in terms of
08:03concerns around human rights violations in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, for example?
08:09I think these issues have been raised, and I think generally it is good that the summit could have taken place. Actually, it leaves us with more questions than answers so far, but it's good that we at least know the questions now, because my approach is that we should not only talk about China, which has been done over many years on the European level. We have to talk with China as well.
08:37But Cynthia, Lucas mentions talk, but is the problem here? Too much talk and too little action?
08:43I believe you could be right. I'm more on your side in the sense of the question being posed, because I think China is dismantling the free press. I think we're seeing continuous bully boy tactics, if I could call it that, against anyone who stands up against or even questions the Chinese leadership.
09:02And we also have seen a suppression of freedom of ideas and freedom of expression in Hong Kong and other places and, of course, threats to Taiwan. So I think the human rights issue is a really, really important issue, needs to be kept front and center.
09:18And some of your colleagues from the parliament's China delegation were in Taiwan this week to learn about cybersecurity operations, disinformation campaigns. We don't hear a lot about that from China. Lucas, how much of a concern is this for you?
09:32The strategic compass calls China also a partner in economic terms and also a competitor in economic terms. And this is what we have to see and to address as well.
09:45We see worldwide so-called disinformation campaigns, foreign interference, and we have to clearly observe what we also are doing in the European Union Democracy Shields Special Committee in the European Parliament.
09:59We have to clearly observe where these threats come from. And if applications like TikTok would be used to interfere within Europe, what actually has happened in Romania, for example, during the presidential elections, then we have to address that directly.
10:15Cynthia, do we need to be talking about restricting, regulating? We talk about regulating, but do we need to go further? Do we need to talk about a TikTok ban?
10:23Oh, we certainly need to consider a TikTok ban. We certainly need to consider all restrictions and all bans, because we do know that China hasn't played by the rules when it came to international trade.
10:37We also do know that China supported Russia in their illegal war against Ukraine. And this was in direct contradiction of Europe's interests.
10:48And I'm sure that was raised and discussed very, very vociferously at the summit.
10:55We talk about shielding Europe, shielding Europe's democracy. Yet we've seen China's, well, alleged direct interference in the European Parliament, the heart of Europe's democracy.
11:06We've heard allegations of Chinese spies in the parliament and most recently of influence peddling by Huawei targeting MEPs.
11:14Shouldn't this send alarm bells ringing?
11:16This has to be addressed very directly with the Chinese counterparts. This is completely unacceptable.
11:22If you want to seek for cooperation, then it must be excluded that such kind of interference would take place in Europe.
11:29Thank you both for joining us. That's all from us for today.
11:33Thank you for joining. And remember to stay up to date with all our coverage on Euronews and Euronews.com.
11:46Thank you for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us for joining us
