Chinese President Xi Jinping and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen speak with European Council President Charles Michel and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell via video link (Reuters)
Chinese President Xi Jinping told European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen visiting Beijing that China is ready to become a major economic and trade partner of the European Union, China Central Television reported.
Bloomberg news agency reported that Jinping confirmed on Thursday China's readiness to work with the European Union on industrial and supply chains.
He added that the EU and China cannot reduce their cooperation because of competition between the two sides.
Previous dialogues between his country and Europe on trade and environment, for example, have yielded good results this year, Xi said, noting that China and the EU should continuously promote political mutual trust, communication and cooperation.
China and the EU should work together for global stability and development, in light of the "unexpected change" in the global political arena, he said.
On the other hand, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called on Thursday to address the "imbalances and differences" between the European Union and China, on the occasion of the first physical summit between the two sides in more than 4 years held in Beijing.
"China is the EU's most important trading partner, but there are clear imbalances and differences that we have to address," von der Leyen said.
The summit between the president of the European Council and the foreign policy chief in Brussels, and the Chinese president and the head of the European Commission in Beijing (Reuters)
European Council President Charles Michel said at the start of the summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping that the bloc wanted "a stable relationship with China that benefits both parties".
"We are united in commitment to seek a stable mutually beneficial relationship with China," Michel said via video link from Brussels, addressing Xi in his opening speech at the EU-China summit, stressing that the bloc seeks a relationship based on "the principles of transparency, predictability and reciprocity."
The summit will focus in particular on the trade imbalance between the two partners, which has widened in recent years.
This is the first physical summit between the two parties in more than 4 years after the Corona pandemic isolated China from the Western world in particular.
Source : Al Jazeera + Agencies