RED THREAD: EU missing in Beijing

Welcome to Red Thread, Euractiv’s weekly newsletter on the EU’s relationship with China and the wider Asia-Pacific.

I’m Christina Zhao in Oceania, joined by Anupriya Datta in Europe.

This week, we look at how Beijing is exploiting Europe’s fault lines…

In Brussels, Europe talks tough on China. But in Beijing, that unity breaks down.

The gap has been on display in a steady flow of state visits to the Chinese capital in recent months. Spain’s Pedro Sánchez stood beside President Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People last week, calling for deeper ties in a “crumbling” international order. Days later Italy’s Antonio Tajani arrived. Before them came France’s Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Friedrich Merz, Ireland’s Micheál Martin, Finland’s Petteri Orpo and even King Felipe VI.

More leaders, more often, and from every layer of Europe.

More telling is who isn’t going. No 2026 visit from Commission President Ursula von der Leyen or Council President António Costa, and no concerted EU attempt at diplomacy. Brussels is holding back, wary of trade tensions, industrial disputes and Beijing’s alignment with Moscow – even as its own capitals lean forward.

The result is a split-screen. At the national level, engagement is intensifying. With a second Trump presidency reviving doubts about Washington and growth at home stalling, European leaders are hedging, looking to China for markets, investment and industrial deals.

In Prague this week, Prime Minister Andrej Babiš signalled a shift to a more “pragmatic” China policy, arguing that his predecessor’s pro-Taiwan stance “damaged Czech companies” without delivering results.

Rather than negotiating with Brussels, Beijing is working Europe, country by country. Why deal with the bloc when capitals are more flexible? As Bruegel economist Alicia García-Herrero puts it, “the EU talks tough together but often splits when national jobs or factories are at stake.”

That split is where China is focusing its efforts. Capitals pursue their own deals, and Beijing responds with tailored incentives – battery plants in Hungary, investment surges in southern Europe, deals with Spain. Economic carrots, deployed with precision.

But the real prize is Germany. Keeping Europe’s largest economy out of a hardline China stance remains Beijing’s central objective, said Andrew Small, director of the Asia programme at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

At the same time, Beijing’s tone toward Brussels has hardened. Chinese officials and state media increasingly accuse the EU of “protectionism” and warn of countermeasures as Brussels advances tariffs, screening tools and industrial policy aimed at Chinese overcapacity.

The bloc has collective levers – tariffs, market rules, investment screening – but limited power to stop national governments freelancing in Beijing. And when capitals cut their own deals, enforcement weakens.

Can Europe maintain a coherent China policy? Only partially, analysts say. The Commission can set rules, but it cannot fully control behaviour. Even when it acts, on tariffs for example, it faces lobbying from states and divisions over how hard to go.

Beijing is not creating Europe’s divisions. But it is learning to exploit them. “If Brussels wants leverage, it will need faster tools – and less tolerance for solo national plays,” García-Herrero said.

From Asia

Half marathon goes full sci-fi

A humanoid robot named “Flash” beat the human half marathon world record in a Beijing race on Sunday, underscoring China’s rapid advances in robotics as it competes with the US.

The winning machine, developed by Honor, completed the 21km course in 50 minutes and 26 seconds, faster than the human record of about 57 minutes, set by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo. It’s a significant leap from last year’s inaugural event, when the top robot took more than two hours. Watch here.

Chinese humanoid robots are learning fast: from self-replication and cooking to breakdancing and even wielding nunchucks. Read more in our robotics edition of Red Thread.

The rules powering China’s AI

Chinese AI companies are closing in on the likes of OpenAI and Anthropic, rolling out increasingly capable open-source models that are gaining traction globally. But they operate in a markedly different environment at home. While Washington has struggled to impose meaningful constraints, Beijing has built an extensive web of AI rules, Euractiv’s Maximilian Henning reports.

Developers are expected to build compliance systems, register human-like models and avoid emotionally manipulating users – provisions that, at times, echo elements of the EU’s AI Act. Yet the similarities end there. Chinese firms must also navigate overt political red lines, from safeguarding “national unity” to adhering to “Core Socialist values,” and a system of enforcement where a summons from regulators can matter more than any fine.

A patchwork approach: the EU has one big rulebook for AI, while China writes separate rules for each new type of AI as it comes along.

Brussels cyber rules draw Beijing threat

China’s commerce ministry has warned Brussels of potential countermeasures if planned reforms to the EU’s Cybersecurity Act result in certain Chinese companies being excluded from European markets.

Beijing is “gravely concerned” about the proposals, it said in comments submitted to the European Commission, urging the bloc to uphold multilateralism and open cooperation. The ministry argued the review risks undermining international collaboration and abandons the principle of technological neutrality, while “overstretching” the concept of security.

Under the Commission’s plans, companies such as Huawei and ZTE could face restrictions as the EU moves to designate certain countries and firms as posing high cybersecurity risks. Beijing warned it could take “corresponding countermeasures” against European businesses in response.

Behind the scenes: Beijing is furiously lobbing business groups, EU capitals and industry channels, trying to water down how the rules are applied.

From Europe

Brussels funds Beijing-backed buses

A €320 million EU-backed transport contract in Dakar has exposed tensions at the heart of Europe’s development strategy, after China’s state-owned CRRC emerged as the frontrunner with a bid priced at less than half that of rivals, according to an internal document seen by Euractiv‘s Magnus Lund Nielsen.

The tender – financed by the European Investment Bank, the European Commission and national development banks – has prompted concern in Brussels that public funds could ultimately benefit subsidised Chinese groups, despite EU efforts to clamp down on foreign subsidies and lowball bids.

EU, Japan deepen defence industry ties

Brussels and Tokyo are edging closer on defence ties, as officials and companies from both sides met for the first EU-Japan Defence Industry Dialogue on Friday, according to the European Commission.

Led by Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius and Japanese Minister Toshio Ino, the talks signal a push to translate the 2024 security pact and last year’s competitiveness alliance into practical cooperation.

The focus is on shoring up supply chains, including dual-use technologies, and deepening industrial links, with industry bodies on both sides preparing to formalise collaboration through a memorandum of cooperation.

Brussels boots Chinese metro bidder

A Chinese business lobby has criticised the European Commission for forcing the removal of a Chinese subcontractor from a Lisbon metro project under the bloc’s Foreign Subsidies Regulation, arguing the move reflects an expansive and opaque use of new trade powers.

The China Chamber of Commerce to the EU said the company’s limited role – accounting for less than 10% of the contract value – did not justify its designation as “critical” to the bid and warned that tight deadlines and broad discretion in subsidy assessments risk undermining due process.

The intervention highlights growing unease among Chinese firms over Brussels’ willingness to deploy the FSR to reshape procurement outcomes.

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