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Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s Europe trip good for trade, but EU de-risking push makes matters ‘more complicated’
- Li visits top EU economies Germany and France on first trip abroad since becoming premier in March
- While trip may help reset EU trade ties, de-risking with China is ‘an overarching trend that will continue to deepen’, observer says
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Chinese Premier Li Qiang’s trip to the top two European Union economies has helped to reboot trade ties with the bloc, but roadblocks remain as Brussels pushes its de-risking strategy with China, analysts said.
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Li’s visit to Germany and France last week was his first trip abroad since becoming premier in March.
Arriving in Germany on Sunday, he held high-level meetings with government officials including Chancellor Olaf Scholz and visited some of the biggest names in local manufacturing like BMW and Siemens.
Later in the week, Li was in Paris, where his itinerary included a global financing pact forum hosted by the president of France.
Senior officials accompanying Li included National Development and Reform Commission head Zheng Shanjie and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao. About a dozen cooperation agreements were signed during his six-day tour, including one on setting up a climate change and green transition dialogue mechanism with Germany and another on deeper cooperation with French aviation giant Airbus.
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However, though his German and French hosts assured Li they would not seek decoupling with China, a recently released EU security road map emphasising a de-risking of Beijing ties still cast a shadow over his tour.
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