Delay risks entrenching a policy vacuum as member states diverge and Brussels struggles to evolve its approach
4-MIN READ4-MIN ListenFinbarr Berminghamin BrusselsPublished: 9:00pm, 9 Apr 2026A long-awaited EU debate on China has been shelved in favour of the Middle East crisis, highlighting how Europe is struggling to treat Beijing as a strategic priority despite mounting economic pressure.The European Commission’s security college was set to meet this coming Monday to debate the challenges posed by Beijing, as part of what officials were referring to internally as “China week”.
It would have been the first strategic discussion among the bloc’s 27 commissioners under President Ursula von der Leyen’s second term, which began in 2024, and the first-ever China debate under the nascent “security college” format.
The college debate was to be combined with a call between the commission’s top trade official, Sabine Weyand, and Ling Ji, the Chinese commerce vice-minister who deals with Europe, on Monday, as well as a debate on China between trade diplomats next Thursday. Those meetings were expected to go ahead, sources said.
The cumulative purpose was to thrash out a strategic “all-of-government” response to what officials see as a generational, multifaceted challenge posed by China.
