The last time EU leaders held strategy talks on China was just after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. The 12 heads of state and government imposed sanctions including an arms embargo over what they called the “brutal repression” by the Chinese government.

Almost 30 years later, the European Council will use a summit this week to focus once more on China — and decide whether it is time to get tough again. Mounting concerns over Chinese industrial policy, cyber security and trade wars have all combined to put Beijing firmly back on the European agenda.

To some in Brussels and member state capitals, this week’s discussion is the EU’s belated awakening to the new sway of China— and to an uncomfortable truth that it has failed to register the full implications of its ascendancy.