BEIJING — European leaders demanded a more balanced relationship with China at a summit with President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital on Thursday.
They highlighted trade in their opening remarks, calling for concrete progress to address Europe’s yawning trade deficit with China.
“As our cooperation has deepened, so have the imbalances,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “We have reached an inflection point. Rebalancing our bilateral relation is essential. Because to be sustainable, relations need to be mutually beneficial.”
Expectations were low ahead of the talks, initially supposed to last two days but scaled back to one. They come amid financial uncertainty around the world, wars in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the threat of U.S. tariffs. Neither the EU nor China is likely to budge on key issues dividing the two economic juggernauts.
European Council President António Costa called on China to use its influence over Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine — a long-running plea from European leaders that is likely to fall again on deaf ears.
Costa signaled a possible agreement on climate, saying he looks forward to “a strong joint political message” from the summit ahead of annual U.N. climate talks in November in Brazil. That message could follow their talks with China’s Premier Li Qiang later Thursday.
Xi called for deeper cooperation between China and Europe to provide stability in an increasingly complex world. Both sides should set aside differences and seek common ground, he said, a phrase he often uses in relationships like the one with the EU.
China is willing to strengthen coordination on climate and make greater contributions to addressing climate change, he said. The Chinese leader pushed back against EU restrictions on Chinese exports.
“We hope the EU will keep its trade and investment markets open, refrain from using restrictive economic and trade tools and provide a good business environment for Chinese companies to invest and develop in Europe,” he said, according to a readout posted online by state broadcaster CCTV.
Besides trade and the Ukraine war, Von der Leyen and Costa were expected to raise concerns about Chinese cyberattacks and espionage, its restrictions on the export of rare earth minerals and its human rights record in Tibet, Hong Kong and Xinjiang.
The EU, meanwhile, has concerns about a looming trade battle with the United States.
“Europe is being very careful not to antagonize President Trump even further by looking maybe too close to China, so all of that doesn’t make this summit easier,” said Fabian Zuleeg, chief economist of the European Policy Center. “It will be very hard to achieve something concrete.”
China’s stance has hardened on the EU, despite a few olive branches, like