The EU and China have made little progress in improving relations since the summer summit, but Beijing's lifting of export restrictions on rare earth elements creates new opportunities for dialogue, said Jorge Toledo, head of the EU delegation to China.
Bloomberg reported that the head of the EU delegation to China, Jorge Toledo, announced continued difficulties in relations with Beijing after the summer summit.
He linked the issues to supply chain and export control issues. According to him, Beijing's actions to limit the supply of rare earth magnets have long posed a significant threat to European manufacturers, which have difficulty diversifying their supply.
Toledo emphasized that the US-China agreement reached last month has somewhat eased concerns about EU supply. He called China's recent suspension of export controls “good news” and an opportunity for cooperation, saying, “Let's take advantage of this to move forward.”
The diplomat noted that the European Union does not seek to aggravate relations with Beijing. He also criticized Chinese media posts blaming the EU for current problems, stressing that “the EU is a union of member states”, behind which there is a single political will.
Previously, China reduced its supplies of germanium and gallium to Western countries.
The prices of these minerals in Europe have almost doubled.
The European Union has decided to tone down its political rhetoric towards China in order to obtain export licenses for rare earth elements.
VZGLYAD newspaper wrote about how Europe will force China to meet certain conditions economically.
