‘We’re not billiard balls’: how China’s EU charm offensive fell flat

For half a year, a heated debate has raged over whether US President Donald Trump’s return to office would push Europe and China closer together.
Pragmatists, realpolitikers and Beijing’s allies argued that the EU could not afford a trade war with both of the world’s largest economies while footing the bill for a hot war in Ukraine.
For months, EU leaders fuelled the speculation by voicing openness to deeper trade ties with Beijing, in a dramatic rhetorical shift from the previous three years of…