Chinese and EU Officials Exchange Views on Trade and Strategic Rivalry at Beijing Forum

Li Jian, director general of the Chinese foreign ministry’s Department of European Affairs, delivered a strongly worded speech at a high-level forum on Tuesday. The event, hosted by the European Union delegation to China, took place in Beijing where officials and experts from both sides discussed economic dependencies, geopolitical uncertainties and security concerns.

Addressing the gathering, Li used traditional Chinese idioms to criticise Europe’s approach to China.

He warned that “some voices arising in Europe” sought to push China-Europe ties “away from the track of long-term cooperation” and towards “comprehensive competition, or even confrontation”. The senior Chinese diplomat accused Europe of taking an outdated, inward-looking approach.

At the same time he signalled that Beijing remained open to addressing Brussels’ concerns over protectionism and other issues.

Li Jian described pitfalls of protectionism during the Tuesday forum. He stated that China stood ready to engage on matters of concern to European officials, according to the text of his remarks.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s coming visit to China. Officials instead focused on trade balances, economic rivalry and long-term strategic questions. Li Jian’s comments reflected Beijing’s view that certain European positions risked narrowing cooperation.

He employed colourful expressions to characterise Europe’s stance as limited in perspective, drawing on the idiom of “frogs in a well” to illustrate an outdated outlook. The article detailing Li Jian’s speech was written by Cao Jiaxuan in Beijing. It was published at 11:00pm on 12 May 2026.

@SCMPNews reported that participants at the conference shared concerns about economic dependencies and security matters. The gathering nevertheless sidestepped deeper public exchanges on several sensitive geopolitical questions. In balancing trade issues with strategic rivalry, Li’s remarks underscored China’s preference for sustained partnership over adversarial framing.

The diplomat’s intervention comes amid ongoing discussions between Beijing and Brussels on market access, technology standards and investment rules.