EU chief Michel to head to China for Xi meeting

EU chief Charles Michel will head to Beijing next week for a meeting with China's President Xi Jinping, a EU official told.

The official, confirming a report in the Financial Times, said the European Council president's December 1 visit would be formally announced.

The trip comes amid a lively debate between EU capitals as to how to handle relations with China, amid concerns over Beijing's rights record, threat to Taiwan, trade pressure on some EU countries and support for Russia.

The United States is pushing its Western allies to align themselves against China, but some EU members with important trade links resist splitting world affairs into two camps.

Michel walks a line between Germany, with its important economic interests in China, and EU members like Lithuania, which has courted Beijing's anger by building links with Taiwan. EU capitals have also been concerned by China's bond with Russia, even in the wake of Moscow's invasion and bombardment of Western-backed Ukraine.

Earlier this month at an ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh, just ahead of the G20 summit at which Xi met US President Joe Biden, Michel urged Beijing to push Russia to respect international law. "We encourage the Chinese authorities to use all the means at their disposal to convince Russia to respect internationally recognised borders, to respect the sovereignty of Ukraine," Michel told AFP at the time.

Also this month, in an incident that underlined the tensions between Brussels and Beijing, a speech that Michel had been scheduled to broadcast at a Chinese trade fair was cancelled.