China has canceled high-level meetings with the EU — FT
The Chinese side abruptly canceled two important diplomatic meetings with European Union representatives that were scheduled to take place this month, amid rapidly escalating tensions between Beijing and Brussels.
The main reason for the diplomatic move was China’s sharp dissatisfaction with the European bloc’s plans to restrict massive imports of Chinese goods.
Officials and European diplomats view this move as a clear signal of disappointment with the European Union’s policies.
The Chinese authorities quickly canceled two previously agreed-upon dialogues in Beijing—a ministerial-level discussion on digital issues and a meeting with the participation of Olof Skoog, Deputy Secretary-General of the EU’s diplomatic service.
“The two dialogues scheduled for this month were canceled by the Chinese side at short notice,” said a source familiar with the matter.
No official reasons were given for the cancellation of the talks, but such tactics are regularly used by countries to demonstrate political dissatisfaction.
The escalation in relations stems from a large-scale campaign by Beijing aimed at deterring Brussels from adopting new economic barriers to Chinese exports, which grew by 16.4% in the first five months of the year.
China is actively lobbying against the EU’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, which would ban certain Chinese goods from government procurement.
In addition, the European Commission plans to update cybersecurity rules to completely exclude companies like Huawei from telecommunications networks and solar energy systems.
An additional blow to Beijing was the blocking of European funding for imported solar panel inverters, a market where Chinese manufacturers hold a monopoly.
Last month, the European Commission called the daily trade deficit with China of 1 billion euros “unsustainable” and threatened to impose new tariffs, while also launching three anti-dumping investigations.
In response, the Chinese government began actively warning of consequences and hyping the prospect of a full-scale economic war.
“Beijing does not want a trade war with the EU, but it will take decisive countermeasures if the EU continues to target Chinese companies or goods,” according to an official statement from China’s state news agency Xinhua.
“The EU must not and cannot afford to wage a ‘trade war with China,’” the nationalist party-affiliated publication Global Times echoed this position.
This was reported by the Financial Times.
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As a reminder, the Russian hacking group Fancy Bear, which is linked to Russian military intelligence, hacked more than 280 email accounts of government and military institutions in NATO countries and the Balkans.
Prior to this, hackers gained access to data from the booking website Booking.com, the company reported. The attackers were able to obtain information about customer bookings, and some users received emails on Sunday notifying them of a possible data breach.
