The EU and China are two of the biggest traders in the world, with China being the EU's second trading partner. The EU-China Human Rights Dialogue was launched in 1995. Parliament strongly condemns the Chinese government-led system of forced labour – in particular the exploitation of Uyghur, ethnic Kazakh and Kyrgyz, and other Muslim minority groups – in factories within and outside internment camps in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

Over the past year, EU-China bilateral relations have deteriorated, notably related to a growing number of irritants (i.e., China’s counter-measures to EU sanctions on human rights, economic coercion and trade measures against the single market, and China’s positioning on the war in Ukraine).

During his recent visit to China, Commission Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis told his counterparts that “competition must be fair” and urged Beijing to address the lack of reciprocity in economic relations, as the EU’s trade deficit with China in 2022 reached almost 400 billion euro. Mr Dombrovskis said that the EU and China are at a significant political and economic crossroads, and warned that China’s stance on the war in Ukraine could jeopardise its relationship with the EU.

His visit came after Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced during her State of the European Union address that the Commission would launch a probe into whether China's electric vehicle industry is receiving unfair subsidies

David SASSOLI, EP President meets with MEPS blacklisted by China in response to Brussels' sanctions on alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang region