Chinese President Xi Jinping met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel in Beijing on Thursday, the official Xinhua news agency reported, citing AFP and Agerpres.

The two European leaders are in Beijing for a summit between the European Union and China, focusing in particular on the trade imbalance between the two partners, which has worsened in recent years.

The summit, the first with the physical presence of EU leaders Xi Jinping and Chinese Premier Li Qiang since 2019, comes as diplomatic exchanges between Brussels and Beijing resume after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic that isolated China. from the rest of the world.

In recent months, several EU commissioners have visited China to personally resume dialogue.

But there are still plenty of contentious issues between the EU and its biggest economic partner, whether it’s the massive trade deficit or the war in Ukraine.

The European Union will not tolerate an imbalance in its trade exchanges with China indefinitely, Ursula von der Leyen warned on Tuesday, while reaffirming her preference for a “contractual solution”.

Rebalancing trade with the EU is also in China’s interests, she stressed, asking Beijing to “carefully study” the options on the table.

This is a “summit of options”, insisted Ursula von der Leyen, and “several positive options can be adopted to improve the situation”.

The EU’s trade deficit with China has doubled over the past two years, reaching a record 390 billion euros in 2022, the president of the European Commission stressed.