Beijing – Chinese President Xi Jinping, on Thursday urged the senior European Union officials to “properly manage differences and frictions”, since he criticized the recent commercial actions of Brussels against Beijing in a tense summit dominated by concerns about trade and war in Ukraine.
The expectations were low for the summit in the Chinese capital that marks 50 years of diplomatic ties after weeks of increasing tension and disputes for its format, with the duration in half abruptly to a single day at Beijing’s request.
“The current challenges facing Europe do not come from China,” XI told the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the president of the European Council, Antonio Costa, the State News Agency Xinhua.
He urged the EU to “adhere to open cooperation and properly manage differences and frictions”, after Von der Leyen asked for a rebalancing of commercial ties with the second largest economy in the world, saying that relationships were in a “turning point.”
“Improving competitiveness cannot trust ‘building walls and strengths’,” Xi added, according to Xinhua. “‘The decoupling and rupture chains will only result in isolation.”
“The European side is expected to maintain the open trade and investment market and refrain from using restrictive economic and commercial tools,” XI said.
During the meeting in the great town hall of Beijing, von der Leyen told XI: “As our cooperation has deepened, they have also done imbalances,” according to a pool report.
“We have reached a turning point,” he added, urging China to “present real solutions.”
He referred to the EU Commercial Deficit with China, which shot 305.8 billion euros historical ($ 360 billion) last year.
The EU commercial actions in the last year have been aimed at Chinese exports of EV among other goods, and their officials have repeatedly complained about Chinese industrial overcapacity.
In other evening criticisms of the recent aggressive position of Brussels about China, XI also warned EU leaders to “make correct strategic decisions.”
The two EU officials were scheduled to meet with Chinese Prime Minister Li Qiang later. Both parties hope to reach a modest joint statement on the weather, now one of the rare bright points in their cooperation.
At the beginning of President Donald Trump’s second term, both parties had more consensus to work together to address the commercial challenges of the United States, said Cu Hongjian, a professor of foreign policy at the University of Foreign Studies in Beijing.
“Recently the situation has changed,” said Cui. “The EU has continued to commit to the United States, which means that there is currently a lack of impulse for EU-China ties to approach.”
The period prior to the Summit saw Tit -for-OT commercial disputes and an aggressive European rhetoric, as an accusation of July 8 of Von der that China was flooding global markets as a result of their overcapacity and “allowing the War Economy of Russia.”
However, in a publication on X on Thursday, von der Leyen gave a more conciliatory tone, describing the summit as an opportunity to “advance and rebalance our relationship.”
European issues are expected to raise in conversations are electric vehicles and the export controls of Rare Earths of China that interrupted the supply chains of the whole world, which causes temporary births in the European automotive production lines in May.
But China’s exports of rare earth magnets increased in June by 245% since May, to stand at 1,364 metric tons (1,503 short tons), although that was still 35% lower than the cost number of the year, they showed customs data.
The EU is likely to be a commercial agreement with the United States for a large 15% tariff in its exports after intense negotiations, avoiding a tougher figure of 30% threatened by Trump.
