EU’s Top China Envoy Rues Uneasy Ties, Urges Reset With Beijing

(Bloomberg) — China and the European Union have made little headway in repairing ties since a summer summit, the bloc’s top envoy to Beijing said, though the Asian nation’s easing of rare earth controls offered a chance for reset.

“Since the summit, things have not improved,” Jorge Toledo, the EU’s ambassador to China, said Thursday during a panel discussion in Beijing. “Things have been difficult because of many factors, but especially when it comes to supply chains, export control, et cetera.”

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Beijing has been throttling shipments of rare earth magnets, posing a major threat to European manufacturers that have struggled to diversify supply chains from China. An agreement reached last month between US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, has allayed some of the EU’s concerns.

China’s recent suspension of export controls was “good news” that represented an opportunity, according to Toledo.

“Let’s build on that to try and make progress,” he said. “We in the European Union have no desire for bad relations with China.”

Toledo also criticized “attacks” lodged at the EU in Chinese media, which he described as an effort to “blame” the institution for all the problems.

“The EU is nothing different from that union of its member states,” Toledo said. “Ignoring that there is a political union, that there is a political will, and that there is a union behind all we do, would be risky and would not be conducive.”

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