Rutte heads to China for talks on trade, Gaza and Ukraine

Prime minister Mark Rutte and foreign trade minister Geoffrey van Leeuwen are heading for China next week for meetings with president Xi Jinping and prime minister Li Qiang.

It is the first time since 2018 that Rutte will have met the Chinese leader for talks in China itself. China was closed to outsiders during the coronavirus pandemic but the two leaders did meet during the G20 summit on Bali last year.

Rutte and Xi will discuss economic ties between the two countries and the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the state information service RVD said. Van Leeuwen will hold a separate meeting with his counterpart Wang Wentao.

The relationship between the two countries has been complicated recently by US pressure over the sale of ASML chip making machinery to China and allegations of spying.

In February the military security service MIVD said the Chinese authorities had managed to access a small defence ministry computer network last year and published a detailed technical report as a “warning to others”. The Chinese denied the allegations.

Trade between the two countries is worth tens of billions of euros a year.