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China's Wang Yi Courts EU Business Ahead of Leaders' Summit
Wang Yi met Investor AB's Jacob Wallenberg in Stockholm, urging closer EU-China business ties ahead of a leaders' summit where trade friction over EVs and market access will dominate.
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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Investor AB Chairman Jacob Wallenberg in Stockholm that Beijing wants deeper cooperation with Swedish and European businesses, part of a push to shore up foreign investor confidence ahead of a China-EU leaders' summit.
Wang met Wallenberg, whose family-controlled investment firm was among the first European groups to enter China after the country's reform and opening-up, according to a statement from China's Foreign Ministry. The minister said the Wallenbergs had made a "distinctive contribution" to bilateral relations over the decades and urged Sweden's wider business community to support efforts to improve ties between the two countries.
Beijing and Stockholm are working to rebuild mutual trust, expand practical cooperation and steer the relationship back onto a healthier footing, Wang added.
The meeting fits a broader pattern of Chinese officials signalling openness to foreign capital at a time of slowing domestic growth and soft consumer demand. Wang reiterated several planks of Beijing's economic messaging to foreign investors: a commitment to boosting domestic demand, expanding high-level opening-up and supporting free trade and market-based economic principles. These policies would generate additional opportunities for foreign companies operating in China, he said.
The outreach to a marquee European investor like the Wallenberg family carries symbolic weight for markets watching whether recent friction over electric vehicles and technology exports can be contained without derailing broader commercial ties. European business groups have continued pressing Beijing for improved market access and more predictable regulatory treatment for foreign firms.
Those concerns are likely to resurface at the China-EU leaders' summit expected later this month, where trade, investment and broader economic cooperation are set to feature prominently alongside wider geopolitical issues. Investors will watch for concrete signs of improved market access or regulatory predictability at the summit itself, given persistent European business complaints on both fronts.