EU presses China on rare earths and Ukraine war

BRUSSELS (Reuters) -The European Union's top diplomat urged China's foreign minister on Wednesday to end restrictions on rare earths exports and warned that Chinese firms' support for Russia's war in Ukraine posed a serious threat to European security, the EU said.

The statement from the EU's diplomatic service came after Kaja Kallas, the bloc's high representative for foreign policy, met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Brussels.

Kallas "called on China to put an end to its distortive practices, including its restrictions on rare earths exports, which pose significant risks to European companies and endanger the reliability of global supply chains," the EU said.

On trade, Kallas urged "concrete solutions to rebalance the economic relationship, level the playing field and improve reciprocity in market access".

She also "highlighted the serious threat Chinese companies' support for Russia’s illegal war poses to European security".

China says it does not provide military support to Russia for the war in Ukraine. But European officials say Chinese companies provide many of the vital components for Russian drones and other weapons used in Ukraine.

Kallas called on China "to immediately cease all material support that sustains Russia’s military industrial complex" and support "a full and unconditional ceasefire" and a "just and lasting peace in Ukraine".

Wednesday's discussions were to lay the groundwork for a summit between EU and Chinese leaders later this month.

Wang also met earlier in the day with European Council President Antonio Costa as part of those preparations.

In that meeting, Wang called on both sides to respect each other's core interests and increase mutual understanding, adding that "unilateralism and acts of bullying have seriously undermined the international order and rules," according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

EU officials had said they would use the meeting between Kallas and Wang to urge China to use its influence as Iran's main oil buyer to press Tehran to make a deal over its nuclear programme and de-escalate conflict in the Middle East.

The EU statement did not say whether those efforts had borne any fruit.

But it said Kallas and Wang "agreed on the importance of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty as the cornerstone of the global nuclear non-proliferation regime".

The EU and Britain, France and Germany are parties to a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that Washington abandoned in 2018, which they hope to revive. Iran has always said its nuclear programme is peaceful and denies seeking a weapon.

Costa and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will travel to China for the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on July 24-25.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop, Makini Brice and Andrew Gray; Editing by Peter Graff and Daniel Wallis)