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The EU has regarded China since 2019 as a partner, economic
competitor and systemic rival. The EU's foreign policy service
said in a paper prepared for this week's leaders' summit that
Beijing should now be thought of primarily as a competitor that
is promoting "an alternative vision of the world order".
The push for fine-tuning comes as Germany's ruling coalition
considers whether to let Chinese state-owned shipping group
Cosco take a stake in a Hamburg port terminal.
The response of the government, currently divided on the issue,
is seen as a gauge of how far it is willing to toughen its
stance towards its top trading partner.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not speak to reporters before
Friday's summit session, but the EU leaders that did agreed the
27 EU members needed to present a common front.
"I think with China it's the same as with Russia. It is in their
interest that we are divided. It's in our interest that we are
united," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters.
EU diplomats are concerned that Chinese President Xi Jinping,
who delivered a key policy speech on Sunday, is setting China on
an increasingly authoritarian path and is uneasy about a Chinese
partnership with Russia.
Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "no limits"
friendship between their two countries on the eve of Russia's
invasion of Ukraine.
Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said it was important
for the EU to speak with China to make sure it was "on the right
side of history" over Russia's war against Ukraine.
"China is best dealt with when we are 27, not when we are one on
one vis-à-vis China," he said.
Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin stressed the EU needed to avoid
building future dependencies and instead promote stronger
cooperation between democratic countries.
"We shouldn't be dependent on authoritarian regimes on critical
issues such as technology," she said.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop;Editing by Kirsten Donovan)
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