China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will head to Europe next week for talks with counterparts from the European Union, Germany and France, Beijing said on Friday as it seeks to shore up fraught ties with the bloc.

Beijing has sought to improve relations with Europe as a counterweight to superpower rival United States, though frictions remain over trade and China’s close ties with Russia despite its war in Ukraine.

China and the European Union will also host a summit next month marking 50 years since Beijing and Brussels established diplomatic ties. Wang’s trip will take him to Brussels, France and Germany and last from next Monday to Sunday, Beijing said.

“The world is undergoing an accelerated evolution of a century-old change, with unilateralism, protectionism and bullying behaviour becoming rampant,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said — a thinly-veiled swipe against the United States under President Donald Trump.