The EU-China Summit in September 2020 was supposed to be a major milestone for the German council presidency. With COVID-19 leading to changing priorities on the EU level, allegations against the Chinese authorities concerning the spread of misinformation around the outbreak of the coronavirus and the EU commission’s foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell calling the EU’s approach towards China ‘naive’, the summit faces doubts. The relationship between China and the EU remains a balancing act between systemic rivalry and economic and business partnerships. How did the relations change under the self-declared geopolitical von der Leyen Commission? What’s the status of key economic and investment projects, including the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative in Europe? Which policy areas are seeing more EU-China cooperation both from an economic and political perspective?
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