A split is emerging at the very top of the European Union over the bloc’s China policy, amid growing pressure from U.S. President Joe Biden for Brussels to take a more hawkish stance toward Beijing.

Senior figures in the European Council — including President Charles Michel — are pushing for a less confrontational approach to China than that of the Biden administration, which is trying to pressure allies to team up in taking on Beijing. The Council is the EU body that represents the 27 EU member countries — including governments with dovish positions on Beijing, such as Berlin, Budapest and Athens. EU kingpin Germany is a major investor in China, particularly through the car industry, and wants to avoid ructions in commercial ties.

This means there are concerns in several member countries that European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is striking a more hawkish tone, in line with the U.S. Crucially, the Commission is the executive body that plays a core role in deciding Chinese access to Europe through trade policy.

“There is a huge risk of conflict here between the United States and China,” said one senior Council official speaking on condition of anonymity, referring to growing fears that Beijing could attack Taiwan. “Yes, we are a partner of the United States, but we are not a vassal state. We believe that we must not completely decouple from China.”

In particular, there is concern within the European Council about the joint statement issued by von der Leyen and Biden following their meeting in the White House last Friday. “We have a common interest in preventing our companies’ capital, expertise, and knowledge from fueling technological advances that will enhance the military and intelligence capabilities of our strategic rivals, including through outbound investment,” the two said, in an unambiguous reference to thwarting Chinese ambitions by stopping companies from developing high-end tech in China.  

The argument from the Council is that the Commission — whose independent-minded bureaucrats have the lead role in steering the bloc’s trade policy — should consult more with the national capitals before racing toward measures that could rile Beijing.

“For sure the Commission has a competence on trade,” said one senior EU official speaking on condition of anonymity because of the internal sensitivities. “But we are speaking of geopolitical strategy, about the [EU] position at international level … [this]… has to be done with a mandate of the European Council.”

The Commission, for its part, points out that Friday’s statement reflects G7 policy, as set out by the Japanese presidency of the group. A spokesman also signaled the Commission president had previously spoken of the need to de-risk (i.e. reduce exposure) rather than fully decouple from China.

These tensions between the upper echelons of the EU’s dueling powerhouses, the Council and the Commission, about the EU’s China policy have also come to a head over the timing of the next EU-China summit.

The European Commission insists that the next China-EU summit, which had been penciled in for June, cannot take place before the next U.S.-EU summit. But the U.S. has indicated that Biden won’t attend a summit in Europe before June — a sequence of events that will delay the next EU-China summit until the second half of the year.

The EU’s relationship with China is now also of particular sensitivity because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. government has been sharing intelligence with Europe suggesting China is considering arming Russia in its war on Ukraine.

Europe’s response has been ambivalent at best, however, with many countries hesitant to pull away from the profitable Chinese market.

The row at the top of the EU over the bloc’s China policy is in part a reaction to an accusation long leveled at von der Leyen privately, even from within the Commission, that she and her team are overly close to America.

Her chief of staff Bjoern Seibert has acted as the main conduit between Brussels and Washington over the past year or so, negotiating directly with senior figures in the U.S. administration such as National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan and former Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh.

Von der Leyen herself has struck up a strong professional relationship with Biden. In addition to meetings at the G7 and other international gatherings, she has twice met the U.S. president in the Oval Office.

Michel, by contrast, has yet to make an official visit to the White House, but went on a controversial solo trip to China in November last year.

The deepening divisions at the top of the EU about how Europe should position itself amid an increasingly tense standoff between Beijing and Washington harks back to previous heightened political moments, not least the Iraq War, when most of Europe — led by France — turned its back on the U.S.-led intervention, with the most notable exception being Britain.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel was also reluctant to toe the line on U.S. policy regarding China — infuriating Sullivan and incoming members of the Biden administration during the transition period between the Trump and Biden presidencies, when she helped drive an EU trade pact with China in December 2020.

Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.