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Chinese state media warned that Beijing could withstand a further deterioration or even a "freeze" in trade relations with the European Union, as China's commerce minister prepared for talks in Brussels over growing commercial tensions.
Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao is due to meet EU Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic in Brussels on Monday, as the EU debates how to reduce Europe's €360 billion trade deficit with China.
Wang is expected to push back against trade defense measures proposed by Brussels, including the proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, which would bar some Chinese products from public procurement contracts and limit takeovers of European companies.
China is also seeking to persuade the EU to relax export controls on high-tech goods, including lithography machines made by Dutch company ASML that are needed for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.
Brussels imposed the curbs at the request of the U.S.
Chinese state media has stepped up its rhetoric against the EU ahead of the talks.
"China is able to cope with a situation where China-EU economic and trade relations deteriorate further or even slide to the freezing point," said Yuyuantantian, a social media account linked to Chinese state television CCTV.
"China does not want to go that far, but it is not afraid to go that way," it added.
This month, before Wang's visit, China abruptly canceled two important diplomatic meetings, in what some diplomats said was a sign of rising tension.
Yuyuantantian said China was willing to expand imports from Europe to try to balance trade.
But it said the "European side needs to relax export controls on high-tech products and not weaponize economic and trade issues."
The account said Chinese companies were no longer as concerned about the European market because they now had other options, including Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
Economists say many components or goods shipped from China to Southeast Asia are ultimately re-exported to the U.S. or other developed markets as finished products.
The European Commission has recently outlined an update to its Cybersecurity Act that would exclude Chinese companies, including Huawei, from telecommunications networks and solar energy systems.
It has blocked public funding for imported inverters, which are mainly produced by China and used to control solar panel installations and other energy technologies.
Brussels has also threatened fresh tariffs on Chinese goods to protect its rapidly eroding industrial base, especially in sectors such as the car industry.
The EU opened five trade defense investigations in June.
Foreign chambers of commerce in China argue that their companies' imports often face a network of non-tariff barriers.
They also point to a range of new Chinese laws that make it difficult to conduct supply-chain due diligence in the country.
They argue that Chinese controls on rare earth exports, introduced last year as part of Beijing's trade war with U.S. President Donald Trump, have unfairly affected other countries.
The talks in Brussels come as both sides face growing pressure over trade, market access, and the future of China-EU economic relations.
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