BEIJING.- A senior European Union official told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday that China and the EU should discuss both imbalances in their trade relationship and Russian aggression against Ukraine.
The two parties are opposed on both points. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Xi in Beijing that they must handle their differences responsibly.
“China is the EU’s most important trading partner,” von der Leyen said in her opening remarks, published on the commission’s website. “But there are clear imbalances and differences that we must address.”
Xi said China and the EU must manage their differences through dialogue and criticized what his government sees as a shift in European policy toward a more strident and competitive stance.
The two sides “should not regard each other as rivals due to the difference in systems, reduce cooperation due to competition and clash due to differences,” he said, according to state broadcaster CCTV.
The day before, Italy announced that it was withdrawing from the Belt and Road Initiative, a program that aims to build a network of routes, ports and power plants financed by China.
Italy was the first G7 country to join the initiative, in 2019, when the then government promoted it as a way to increase trade with China while obtaining investments for large infrastructure projects.
None of those results materialized. In the years since, Italy’s trade deficit with China has jumped from 20 billion to 48 billion euros ($21.5 billion to $51.8 billion).
Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin defended the initiative, and seemed to suggest that Italy was responding to influence from forces hostile to China.
“China firmly opposes slandering and undermining cooperation in the construction of the Belt and Road and opposes stoking confrontation and bloc divisions,” Wang said Thursday at his daily news conference.
Von der Leyen and the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, met with Xi in the morning and later spoke with the number two in the Chinese government, Premier Li Qiang. Von der Leyen, as president of the commission, manages the day-to-day affairs of the EU, while Michel presides over the summits of the EU heads of state or government.
Regarding Ukraine, Von der Leyen said that the EU and China, as great powers, have global responsibilities.
“That is why it is essential to end Russian aggression against Ukraine and achieve a just and lasting peace in accordance with the UN Charter,” he said.
According to CCTV, Xi said China and the EU should promote political solutions to conflicts, but did not mention Ukraine.
Source: With information from AP
