04 July 2025, NIICE Commentary 11409
Dr Chander Shekhar
China or the People’s Republic of China (PRC)’s engagement with Europe has witnessed an upward trajectory in the last few years in spite of geopolitical mis-calculation. The West habitually looked China in different fashion amidst war in Europe as of aligning with Russia and implicitly assisting its “war of aggression and invasion” on Ukraine, the last years have been also testing times for China to manage its relation with the West, not anti-west, but seeking peace through dialogue, not strength to promote and strengthening its existing ties with the European countries. In its latest, the week-long visits of China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, to European countries, namely, Germany, France, and Brussels, concluded from 30 June to 6 July, signalled its Acting West posturing to reinforce trust of being a peace maker and trusted partner in the world, along with other countries like India, and cemented its cooperative regime for common prosperity and addressed shared challenges, in response, the leaders in the West gave positive signals, shown minor disagreements though, to shape Europe-China ties while shelving conflict and building partnership for a new era.
Acting West
Acting West has become a strategic posture in China’s engagement with Europe. The global geopolitical trends from Europe to the Middle East have damaged China’s credibility in the West after a successful rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. To repair it, China’s outreach to European countries led by high-profile leaders has testified to its changing tone and re-focused on economic growth, trade, climate, and other issues. Months back, the May 2025 visits to Beijing by the top European leaders, including the European Council President Antonio Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, marked an important transition as the EU and China celebrate this year's 50th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. Both actors share common values and common interests, from multilateral cooperation to putting a shared voice on climate issues. As of now, their trade volume has increased to 785.8 billion dollars from the previous 2.4 billion dollars, which represents a 300-fold increase.
Some newspapers describe the visits as a counter effort in the broken liberal international order to strengthen its ties with Europe as an “anchor of stability, and both needs to “keep the world peaceful, stable, safeguard multilateralism, free trade, and promote fairness and justice in a volatile world system”. However, China had utilized an acting west approach, implicitly, in the 1990s to participate in the institutions led by the liberal international order.
The anti-globalization wave and myopic economic policies need to be taken as a short-term measure. Practical and inclusive cooperation can take the EU-China partnership to a new height by jointly working on issues that affect their bilateral as well as multilateral relations at various forums. The EU, as a sovereign actor, has moved from its traditional engagement to multi-aligning with other countries in Asia to cope with its declining partnership with the Trump administration, which failed to provide a "security" guarantee net.
Shelving Conflict and Peace-Making Efforts
During week week-long visit, the Chinese leader participated in various high-profile security and strategic dialogues in Germany, France, and Brussels. He sought to promote economic partnership, strengthening strategic ties while fixing misunderstandings and asking parties to resume peaceful paths for shared and common prosperity. The instability in Europe and the Middle East conundrum has already resulted in sins and will continue to affect the next few decades, which have already set the tone of geopolitics.
At the onset, given the escalating effects of conflicts in other regions, countries like India, Indonesia, China, and others have insisted that conflicting parties give up a confrontational attitude and focus on peace and development. In France, Wang Yi presented four points joint contribution to international peace, and prosperity: a) to enhance strategic communication, which to act as forces for stability; b) mutually beneficial cooperation and act as a forces for openness; c) focused to build closer bonds between the two peoples and act as forces for inclusiveness; and d) foster multilateral mechanism and coordination.
The newly elected German Chancellor Friedrich Merz signals to work with the PRC in order “to maintain openness and mutual benefit, promote fair trade, and jointly address crises and challenges, which is in the interest of both sides”. On the question of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the “Friends for Peace” group was established at the UN. In its September 2024 meeting, which was chaired by Wang Yi and Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira, in the presence of more than 17 foreign ministers from global south countries recounted that the purpose of this forum is to bring together collective forces to make Global South countries’ efforts “to promote a ceasefire and achieve a lasting peace” in Europe. Moreover, in the March 2025 meeting, also Group of Friends for Peace reiterated the previous statements that there can not be a military solution, insisted on a peaceful solution, and observed de-escalation. India, from the beginning as well has also asked disputed countries to establish a communication channel, dialogue, and diplomacy.
The rare earth exports have opened, however, a new door of confrontation between them. It is believed that China controls roughly about 90% of global processing capacity for rare earths items used in almost everything from home appliances to automobiles. It had imposed restriction in April and made a license compulsory for its exports. During the visits, this issue was highlighted by the European leaders. Wang Yi stated in Germany that the “rare earths have not been, are not, and will not be a problem between China and Europe.” This export ban has caused deep concerns and has tarnished the image of China as a trustworthy partner.
Conclusion
For China, the European visits were a successful effort to rebuild mutual learning and confidence. The foreign minister of China is well cautious and underlined the defeat of Russia, which it can not afford, thereby maintaining calm and restraint for its future actions. European leaders acknowledged the rise of China as an economic power and their dependence on China for rare earth exports, which has become a necessity in the wake of protectionism and inward-looking policies rising in the North Atlantic region.
The peace-making efforts by developing countries like China and India, which have long been promoting the practice of Buddha, Gandhi, and oneness in international politics, shall not be overlooked. On this eve of celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties, they are set to enhance strategic cooperation in the current geopolitical circumstances.
Dr Chander Shekhar is a Researcher and Author at the Centre for International Politics, Organizations and Disarmament, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India.
