Brussels - European Union leaders expressed increasing concern on Friday about economic reliance on China, mindful of the gas dependency built up with Russia that Moscow has exploited, and said they needed a united stance towards Beijing.

The EU has regarded China since 2019 as a partner, economic competitor and systemic rival. The EU's foreign policy service said in a paper prepared for this week's leaders' summit that Beijing should now be thought of primarily as a competitor that is promoting "an alternative vision of the world order".

The push for fine-tuning comes as Germany's ruling coalition considers whether to let Chinese state-owned shipping group Cosco take a stake in a Hamburg port terminal.

The response of the government, currently divided on the issue, is seen as a gauge of how far it is willing to toughen its stance towards its top trading partner.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz did not speak to reporters before Friday's summit session, but the EU leaders that did agreed the 27 EU members needed to present a common front.

"I think with China it's the same as with Russia. It is in their interest that we are divided. It's in our interest that we are united," Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas told reporters.

EU diplomats are concerned that Chinese President Xi Jinping, who delivered a key policy speech on Sunday, is setting China on an increasingly authoritarian path and is uneasy about a Chinese partnership with Russia.

Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a "no limits" friendship between their two countries on the eve of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Latvian Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins said it was important for the EU to speak with China to make sure it was "on the right side of history" over Russia's war against Ukraine.

"China is best dealt with when we are 27, not when we are one on one vis-à-vis China," he said.

Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin stressed the EU needed to avoid building future dependencies and instead promote stronger cooperation between democratic countries.

"We shouldn't be dependent on authoritarian regimes on critical issues such as technology," she said.

(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop;Editing by Kirsten Donovan)