EU leaders agree to cut reliance on China

European Union leaders pledged to reduce their economic dependence on China, as they concluded a two-day summit in Brussels on Friday.

The bloc's leaders vowed to pursue a mutually beneficial economic relationship with Beijing that would "continue to reduce critical dependencies and vulnerabilities," they said in a joint statement. 

"We must prevent strategic dependencies. It will take a few years for companies to diversify, but it will remain an economic cooperation which is also necessary in terms of climate policies and food security," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said.

He described the process as "de-risking," stressing that it is mainly a long-term task for companies rather than countries.

"It is about not putting all eggs into one basket," he explained, adding that companies have already started the process.

EU bloc members also called on China to press Russia to end the Ukraine conflict.

What else was discussed at the summit?

The summit ended without an agreement on a plan to distribute migrants fairly across the bloc's member states.

EU members failed to reach consensus on a statement taking stock of a recent migration deal, after both Poland and Hungary blocked it, the German DPA news agency reported, citing EU diplomats.

Migration has been a strong point of contention across the bloc for years. Countries including Italy and Greece argue that they bear the brunt of taking in most migrants arriving via the Mediterranean on rickety boats.

The recent deal stipulates that EU members should share out the number of refugees arriving in the bloc, or pay compensation.

Both Poland and Hungary were outvoted earlier this month when the bloc agreed on the deal.

What is the disagreement about?

The governments in Warsaw and Budapest do not want to take in more refugees. Poland has already taken in millions of Ukrainian refugees since the Russian invasion in February 2022.

Ahead of the summit. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pledged to veto any plans that could force countries into taking in refugees. He stressed Warsaw would not be forced to accept the bloc's new migration rules.

"An attack on Europe is underway. Europe's borders are not secure. The safety of the inhabitants of our continent is at stake," Morawiecki said in a video statement. He said he would propose "a plan for secure borders" to the leaders.

Meanwhile, a political adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Twitter on Thursday night that his country and Poland were a "duo [that] fights and resists together."

Poland and Hungary, alongside the Czech Republic, had rejected in 2015 a spur-of-the-moment EU proposal to use a quota to share out refugees, as the continent was facing a massive influx of asylum-seekers from Syria. In 2020, the bloc's top court ruled that they had failed to respect its laws.

rmt/dj (AP, dpa, Reuters)