Europe wakes: why Beijing is on a mission to quell Brussels' fears about China
2019-03-22 10:09:27 source：South China Morning Post
March 22, 2019
When Chinese President Xi Jinping lands in Europe on Thursday, China will have already sent one big signal that it is trying to improve ties with the 28-member European Union.
In a reversal of last year’s arrangement, Beijing has scheduled the EU-China Summit before another top-level meeting between China and 16 countries in eastern and central Europe, a gathering known as the 16+1.
Observers and diplomatic sources say the gesture indicates that Beijing is aware of EU unease about China’s growing influence on the continent and tactics that some claim are meant to divide the bloc. That unease is driving a sharper, more unified EU approach to China, and last week resulted in Brussels’ labelling Beijing for the first time as a “systemic rival”.
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