China-EU summit: hopes fade for investment deal as Ukraine war dominates talks

China is looking to mitigate the effects of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on its ties with the European Union with continued trade but hopes are fading that it can be through a revival of a landmark investment deal.

In a sign of a lack of progress, no joint statement was issued after Friday's summit - the first between the EU and China since 2020.

And neither side indicated any progress on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), which was signed a year ago but has yet to be ratified in Europe.

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During the summit, the presidents of the European Commission and European Council, Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, had separate talks with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and President Xi Jinping.

On Saturday morning after the summit, Wang Lutong, director general of European affairs at China's foreign ministry, said there was no progress on the CAI.

"The ball is in Brussels' court," Wang said.

"I think the Europeans have got to remove the sanctions first, and then we can explore the possibility of removing other retaliatory measures, which is reciprocal," he said, referring to EU sanctions imposed on China over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

According to the ministry, Xi stressed the "continuity" in China's policy towards Europe and urged the bloc to "form its own perception of China, adopt an independent China policy, and work with China for the steady and sustained growth of China-EU relations, providing stabilising factors to the volatile world".

"China and the European Union should work to manage the situation and prevent spillover of the [Ukraine] crisis, in particular to maintain the stability of the world economic system, rules and foundations and to boost people's confidence," he was quoted as saying.

"The two sides can coordinate and cooperate in this regard."

Ding Chun, director of the Centre for European Studies at Shanghai's Fudan University, said there were few mentions of the frozen investment deal because the EU was focused on the war in Ukraine and China's position on the conflict.

"The EU's focus was on the Russia-Ukraine conflict rather than the CAI," he said. "As the two sides have no willingness to back down from the sanctions, the difference over the deal remains great and the two sides have yet to find an acceptable solution to resolve the dilemma."