Seeking détente with China, therefore, is still a dangerous game for the EU. Instead, the EU must realize it has other cards to play, including forging more advantageous trade agreements elsewhere in the world and changing China’s calculus about supporting Russia.

A secret Russian document shows that, even as the two countries grow closer, counterintelligence agents have deep concerns about China.

EU-China tensions escalated over diplomatic expulsions, suspected sabotage, stalled EV trade talks, and a tougher EU stance under Kaja Kallas.

To try to convince merchants in China to refocus on European consumers, Shein, Temu and TikTok turned to the same tactics they used to build their markets in the US, spending heavily on advertising and subsidies to sellers and customers.

China has signalled for more than 15 years that it was looking to weaponise areas of the global supply chain, a strategy modelled on longstanding American export controls Beijing views as aimed at stalling its rise.

After Donald Trump’s tariffs on China, European countries are braced for a flood of Chinese goods that might not come.

"We are in a new era of asset vulnerability," said John Hemmings, the Council on Geostrategy's deputy director for geopolitics.

European companies are cutting costs and scaling back investment plans in China as its economy slows and fierce competition drives down prices, according to an annual survey released Wednesday.

China and France have agreed to resolve their trade disputes through dialogue, China's foreign ministry said on Friday, though there was no indication that agreement had been reached in talks on lifting Chinese levies on European brandy.