De-risk, not de-couple: von der Leyen and President Xi discuss EU-China relations and Ukraine

The Russian war against Ukraine was one of the main topics of a trilateral meeting between the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, French President Emanuel Macron and President of the People’s Republic of China Xi Jinping. The meeting was held in Beijing on 6 April.

In a statement following the meeting, von der Leyen said that the EU and China discussed in detail the European approach “to de-risk, not to de-couple”. 

“We exchanged views on the Russian war in Ukraine. Ukraine is a country that is defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity. There needs to be a just peace and full respect of the UN Charter and international law. And both, the European Union and China, we can contribute,” said von der Leyen.

Earlier, the European Commission said that Xi Jinping’s recent visit to Moscow clearly showed that China sees Putin’s weakness as a way to increase its leverage over Russia. “It is clear that the power balance in that relationship – which for most of the last century favoured Russia – has now reversed,” said von der Leyen.

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