But Mr. Fu welcomed her statement that the bloc should “de-risk” its relationship with China by setting new ground rules rather than “decoupling” or withdrawing. “I think that is a positive message, we have to give her that,” he said.
China and E.U. nations have significant trade ties — China was the third-largest destination of E.U. exported goods in 2022, and the largest exporter of goods to the bloc — and Mr. Fu said this week’s trip would be an opportunity to refocus on the fundamentals of that relationship.
There are hurdles beyond China’s stance on Ukraine, including issues of human rights. The E.U. imposed sanctions on Chinese officials and entities in 2021 over the treatment of ethnic Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region. Beijing responded with sanctions on E.U. lawmakers, and an E.U.-China investment agreement has been politically frozen since.
Mr. Fu said that he hoped both sides would remove sanctions and finalize the stalled trade deal, known as the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. E.U. diplomats said that in private meetings in recent weeks, Mr. Fu has suggested China could unilaterally lift its sanctions, if it helped unblock the agreement and produced a form of reciprocal response.
“We are open to suggestions if they think that if China does one thing, and we’ll be able to do another, well let’s talk about this, and we’ll be happy to explore all avenues,” Mr. Fu said of the European side.
In addition to criticizing Mr. Blinken, Mr. Fu accused the United States of unfairly trying to contain China’s development under the pretext of security concerns.
He said Europe should carve out its own policies and develop more “strategic autonomy,” instead of following Washington’s lead.
In saying this, Mr. Fu hit on an open question in E.U. policymaking circles: had Europe drawn too close to the U.S. after their deep alignment over supporting Ukraine, and did this now pose a risk of Europe not acting in its own interests vis-à-vis China?
That question is the backdrop to Mr. Macron’s visit, as it was to the visit of Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in November, with both accompanied by businessmen eager to continue to do deals with China.
“E.U. claims to be a big center, a power center in the world, an independent power center in the world, as much as the United States, as much as China,” Mr. Fu said. “So why does it have to listen to the United States all the time?”
Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Taipei, Taiwan, and Monika Pronczuk from Brussels.
