Chinese President Xi Jinping and top EU officials mark 50 years of diplomatic ties in Beijing at a rocky time in relations.Chinese President Xi Jinping has said Europe and China must make the “correct strategic choices” in the face of recent global challenges during a summit with top European Union officials, which comes at a particularly rocky time in their relationship.
“The current challenges facing Europe do not come from China,” Xi told visiting European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa at the 25th EU-China Summit, state news agency Xinhua said.
The EU and China are marking 50 years of diplomatic relations amid thorny disagreements ranging from the EU-China trade deficit to Beijing’s ongoing support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The event is the first in-person summit for Chinese and EU leaders since 2023, and more modest than initial plans for a two-day meeting in Europe.
Fixing trade imbalances
During the meeting in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People, von der Leyen focused on trade disagreements and told Xi that as “cooperation has deepened, so have imbalances,” according to a pool report.
“We have reached an inflection point,” she added, urging China to “come forward with real solutions”.
She was referring to the EU’s trade deficit with China, which ballooned to a historic 305.8 billion euros ($360bn) last year.
EU trade actions in the past year have targeted Chinese exports of electric vehicles (EVs), among other goods, and its officials ha …
