Xi Jinping skips EU-China anniversary summit – FT

Beijing has informed European officials that China's second-in-command, Premier Li Qiang, will attend the summit in Brussels. He will meet with the presidents of the European Council and the European Commission.

The summit marks the 50th anniversary of relations between China and the EU and has an important symbolic meaning. The EU-China summits are traditionally held alternately in Brussels and Beijing. Usually, the Chinese premier attends the summit in Brussels, while Xi Jinping hosts the summit in Beijing. But, according to the Financial Times, the EU believes that given the importance of this meeting, the Chinese leader should attend.

The media emphasizes that this year's summit is taking place at a particularly sensitive time for EU-China relations. Tensions between Brussels and Beijing have risen since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 when the EU accused China of supporting the Kremlin.

“It is a change of tone not substance. Their policy is not going to change and the same is true for us,” said a senior EU diplomat.

Lu Shaye, a former Chinese ambassador to France who is now Beijing's special representative for European affairs, said that China's policy toward Europe has always “advocated peace, friendship, cooperation and mutual benefit.”

China's attitude to Ukraine

China claims to be neutral on the war in Ukraine. Beijing does not break off economic cooperation with Moscow.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Chinese leader Xi Jinping have, according to official reports, spoken on the phone only once since the start of the full-scale war.

China has developed its so-called “peace plan,” but Ukraine has not supported it. China, Brazil, and some other countries of the Global South agreed to create a “Friends of Peace” platform to help resolve the war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Munich Security Conference.