By Kontur | 2025-07-30

The warning came face to face. At a summit in Beijing on July 24, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told China's leadership that their relationship had reached an "inflection point."

The European Union (EU), she made clear, is no longer willing to ignore how Beijing's trade practices, cyber activity and quiet support for Russia's war machine are threatening Europe's security -- and its patience is wearing thin.

EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas amplified the message ahead of the summit.

"China is not our adversary, but on security our relationship is under increasing strain," she said earlier in July, as quoted by AFP. "Chinese companies are Moscow's lifeline to sustain its war against Ukraine. Beijing carries out cyberattacks, interferes with our democracies, and trades unfairly. These actions harm European security and jobs."

Security risks move to fore

Expected to last two days, the summit was truncated to one amid escalating friction. While the leaders managed to agree on a climate cooperation statement, core disputes over trade imbalances, rare-earth exports and China's links to Moscow remained unresolved.

Brussels highlighted a record €305 billion trade deficit with China and pushed back against state subsidies in key industries like electric vehicles that are distorting the European market.

The EU's frustrations are not limited to economics.

Days before the summit, Germany summoned the Chinese ambassador after a Chinese warship reportedly aimed a laser at a German surveillance aircraft over the Red Sea. The incident forced the plane to abort its mission.

This military provocation, mirroring threats faced by US aircraft in contested areas, shows what officials in both Brussels and Washington increasingly see as China's readiness to assert itself in physical and digital domains alike. For Europe, long focused on commercial diplomacy, it marks a new kind of threat environment.

Strategic convergence with US

After years of hesitancy, the EU is now saying openly that China is playing a central role in sustaining Russia's war in Ukraine.

NATO last year was already expressing its displeasure.

"Russia would not have been able to conduct the war of aggression against Ukraine without the support from China," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in May 2024 in Prague.

"China cannot have it both ways. They cannot continue to have normal trade relationships with countries in Europe and at the same time fuel the biggest war we have seen in Europe since the Second World War," he said in June 2024 in Washington.

This growing EU-US alignment opens the door to greater transatlantic coordination. European leaders are now more open to joint responses that go beyond symbolic statements: sanctions, cyber defense integration, export controls and coordinated pressure on firms supplying Russia with dual-use goods.

One of the most concrete steps in that direction is the "metals alliance” announced on July 28 between the United States and the EU, designed to counter China's global overcapacity in steel, aluminum, copper and other strategic materials.

Framed as an economic coordination effort, the alliance confirms a deeper shift in thinking: that economic dependence no longer can be separated from geopolitical risk. For Eastern European countries and Ukraine, the move suggests a more serious Western posture on resilience and collective defense, starting with industrial security.

Competing narratives, fractured outcomes

However, Beijing has rejected the EU's criticisms. At a news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said the bloc's latest sanctions on Chinese firms, imposed over drone and microelectronics exports to Russia, were "unilateral" and lacked legal justification.

"I would like to emphasize that China has always opposed unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international laws and are not authorized by the UN [United Nations] Security Council," Guo said.

Chinese President Xi Jinping used the summit to call for stability and "proper handling of frictions," presenting China as a steady partner despite the mounting concerns from Brussels.

But the EU's tone was markedly different. Von der Leyen's remarks made clear that polite declarations alone will not be sufficient for future cooperation with China: it will require real, measurable change. Europe, she suggested, is done playing by rules that Beijing refuses to follow.

"As our cooperation has deepened, so have the imbalances … it is vital for China and Europe to acknowledge our respective concerns and come forward with real solutions," von der Leyen said.