The EU and China shared a joint statement at the Beijing summit, in which they pledged to step up efforts to “combat[e] climate change.”
They have not yet made any commitments on trade, one of the key issues on which the two fundamentally disagree.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in a separate statement, reiterated the imbalance in trade relations, with China’s trade surplus of €305 billion. She wants more access for European companies to the Chinese market, for China to stop overproducing, and for fewer export restrictions.
Otherwise, EU-China relations will reach “a tipping point,” she warned.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said during the summit that there are no “fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical antagonisms between China and the EU.” According to Xi, the EU’s problems “do not originate in China.”
