Chinese President said on Monday that Europe remains a foreign policy priority for Beijing.
He made the comments during a meeting with French President and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Paris.
In recent years, and the bloc has increasingly moved to reduce its dependence on the .
Xi is scheduled to visit and after his trip to France.
Xi calls for continued partnership with EU
The Chinese leader said that Brussels and Beijing should stay committed to partnership.
He said that China always sees relations with Europe from a strategic and long-term perspective and said that the continent is a priority of its foreign policy.
Meanwhile, Macron told Xi that it was important for the EU and China to coordinate on “major crises” such as Ukraine and the Middle East. He also stressed for “fair rules for all” in Europe-China trade.
“The future of our continent will very clearly depend on our ability to continue to develop relations with China in a balanced manner,” Macron said.
EU’s von der Leyen accuses China of ‘market distortion’
Similarly, von der Leyen warned against what she called China’s “market distortion practices,” saying that state subsidies for electric vehicle and steel industries could lead to the “de-industrialization of Europe.”
“China is currently manufacturing, with massive subsidies, more than it is selling due to its own weak domestic demand,” she said.
“This is leading to an oversupply of Chinese subsidized goods, such as EVs [electric vehicles] and steel, that is leading to unfair trade,” von der Leyen stressed.
“Current imbalances in market access are not sustainable and need to be addressed,” she declared.
The European Commission has announced that it will examine possible tariffs on electric cars from China.
However, von der Leyen also stressed that the EU was not seeking to “decouple from China.”
Since the start of Russia’s war in Ukraine in February 2022, .
sdi/wmr (AFP, Reuters, dpa)
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