“Our relationship with China is complex and we have a responsibility to make it work” .European Commission
AMN / WEB DESK
European Union leaders on Thursday urged China to fix the country’s trade imbalance with Europe and press Russia for an end to the war in Ukraine.
In the first-in person talks in more than four years between the heads of China and the European Union, President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang met in Beijing with Charles Michel, the president of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission.
No issue has frustrated European officials more than Beijing’s refusal to curtail its support for Moscow. The European leaders urged China to use its influence over Russia to end the war in Ukraine and make the country withdraw its troops. But China is highly unlikely to abandon Russia, calculating that it needs Moscow as a partner to counter the U.S.
Trade: The European market recorded a $426 billion trade deficit with China last year, its biggest ever. China has dismissed many of Europe’s complaints about the imbalance, saying a significant portion of Chinese exports to Europe are from European-owned companies based in China.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who rose to power last year, had long been critical of her country’s involvement in the Belt and Road Initiative.
The European Union has positioned itself side-by-side with the U.S., even officially calling China a “strategic rival.”
Xi told European leaders that bolstering “political mutual trust” means “eliminating all kinds of interference,” an apparent reference to Washington.