BERLIN — Consider this: battalions of People’s Liberation Army soldiers in the world’s major hot spots — Afghanistan, Sudan, Lebanon; People’s Armed Police officers patrolling the streets of Gaza; Chinese gunboats securing the Strait of Hormuz; ranking Chinese Communist Party members holding strategic high-level posts at the U.N., the World Bank, and the W.T.O.; China’s voting power in International Financial Institutions drastically increased; China spearheading regional integration in Asia.

All of these scenarios are realistic translations of the demands for China to assume greater global responsibility that are so persistently made by European leaders. This week’s China-European Union summit, where the two declared their “determination to face and overcome global challenges together,” is a case in point.

For all the rhetoric of engaging China and global burden-sharing, however, Europe’s China angst — its fear of losing influence by granting real responsibility to China — regularly turns such bilateral encounters into wasted opportunities for taking on global responsibilities.

The outcome of the latest summit is a perfect illustration of this: It amounts to updating and celebrating ongoing bureaucratic cooperation while refraining from broader political questions of global responsibilities and leadership.