By Rhod Mackenzie

Over the past four years, the European Union and China have failed to achieve any significant results in negotiations on trade issues, according to EU Ambassador to China Jorge Toledo.

"I am sad to say that in four years the dialogue on economic issues and trade has not brought any success, or at least any significant success,"
He noted that the EU needs to achieve agreementson these issues this year. The ambassador added that further high-level economic talks between the EU and China are scheduled for September.

In May, after discussions at an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers, the EU diplomat Joseph Borrell said that the foreign ministers agreed on the need for a revision of their strategy towards China, which he proposed, "given the recent internal evolution in China and the trajectory of foreign policy." According to Borrell, the EU has a problem of economic security in relations with China.

At the same time, it was, in particular, about reducing the EU's economic dependence on China. In turn, at the end of June, the Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said that the EU would face extremely serious problems if it followed the strategy of curtailing economic ties with China. The Premier of the State Council of the People's Republic of China Li Qiang also criticized the approach aimed at reducing economic ties with China.

Earlier in March, the European Commission put forward proposals to strengthen supply chains for resources such as lithium and nickel, which are needed to produce a number of goods, including batteries and solar panels.

Last week, Germany, France and Italy agreed to strengthen cooperation in the acquisition of raw materials.