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China’s Russia ties after Xi visit to Moscow loom large as EU leaders gather for Brussels summit

  • Concerns over new ‘world order’ with China in the driver’s seat expected to feature in two-day European Council summit
  • Draft conclusions seen to touch upon major EU grievances against Beijing, including fears it might choose to arm Russia against Ukraine.

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Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have agreed that China and Russia are driving changes not seen in a century. Photo: TNS
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s just-concluded state visit to Moscow loomed large over a European Union leaders’ summit on Thursday, as the bloc fretted over the emergence of a new “world order” with China in the driver’s seat.
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China was not named on the official agenda but would feature in talks about trade, competitiveness and Ukraine, according to national leaders arriving in Brussels for the two-day European Council meeting, as well as officials and diplomats involved in its planning.

Draft conclusions to be approved during the summit were not expected to mention China by name, but would hit on some of the bloc’s major grievances against Beijing, including fears it might choose to arm Russia against Ukraine.

According to a late draft seen by the Post, the council would urge “all countries not to provide material or other support for Russia’s war of aggression”, and focus on “reducing strategic dependencies” – a catch-all term for the EU’s reliance on China for critical raw material supplies.

“The war is calling into question the world order. And we’ve got to be very careful because this is what’s at stake,” a senior EU official involved in the drafting said on condition of anonymity.

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