Overview

• EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas called on China to end distortive rare earth export restrictions that threaten European companies and global supply chains.
• Kallas warned that Chinese firms’ material support to Russia’s war in Ukraine poses a significant risk to European security and pressed Beijing to cease all such assistance.
• Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Europe to reject confrontation, framing China and the EU as partners against U.S. unilateralism and “bullying.”
• Brussels strategic talks yielded no substantive breakthroughs, with deep divisions persisting over trade imbalances, market reciprocity and China’s indirect backing of Russia’s military industry.
• Both sides are finalizing plans for a July 24–25 leaders’ summit in Beijing where Ursula von der Leyen, António Costa and Xi Jinping will meet despite core disagreements.