unsaveSave
expand-left
full screen Chinese President Xi Jinping is welcomed by French President Emmanuel Macron at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Monday. Photo: Christophe Ena/AP/TT
The EU’s relationship with China is complicated, states Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen after talks with President Xi Jinping in Paris.
The view of Russia and state aid is, to say the least, different.
The discussions between von der Leyen, Xi and French President Emmanuel Macron are described by the commission base as “open and honest”.
The EU is trying to highlight that it is also in China’s interest that the “rules-based international order” still works – that is, that one does not just jump on a neighboring country without further ado.
– Europe and China have a shared interest in peace and security. We expect China to use all its influence on Russia to end Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, says von der Leyen in a short speech to the press after the meeting.
When it comes to the economy, the EU base tries to entice with the fact that both sides can benefit from a China that “plays by the rules”. But she also warns of countermeasures against Chinese subsidies and that the EU will “never” hesitate to defend its companies.
However, it is unclear whether the message gets through. In the talks, Xi is said to have rejected, among other things, the idea that Chinese “overproduction” constitutes some kind of global problem, according to Chinese information to the AFP news agency.