Diplomatic landing from Europe to China

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang.

von der Leyen said: “China, with its interdependencies and long common history, is of great importance to Europe. I say this as a family experience, because my father was the chancellor of the German state of Lower Saxony. I remember him telling me about his visits to China in the mid to late 1980s when I was a child. I even believe that during one of his visits he signed the first cooperation agreement between the Anhui province, the Chinese province and the German territory. This has been one of the many impetus for the very deep and broad relations that China and the EU have established during this time, and both Europe and China have greatly benefited from this relationship. However, EU-China relations have become more complex in recent years and today it is important that we discuss all aspects of our relations together. This will help both the EU and China to find their way through the complex and volatile geopolitical environment. Therefore, I look forward to our talks.”

Details of von der Leyen’s visit to China were shared.

I DISCUSSED HOW WE CAN RE-BALANCE OUR TRADE

Von der Leyen also said on social media about the meeting: “Our economies are strongly interconnected, but the EU trade deficit is increasing due to discriminatory practices. I discussed with Premier Li how we can rebalance our trade. We must restart our high-level economic and trade dialogue to address this issue.”

Von der Leyen is expected to have a trilateral meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping along with French President Emmanuel Macron.

MACRON ALSO VISITS CHINA

On the other hand, in the statement issued by the Élysée Palace, it was indicated that Macron, who paid a visit to China, met yesterday with the French community in Beijing on the first day of his visit.

Macron is said to have later attended the opening of the 17th Croisements Festival held at the RedBrick museum. It was claimed that this Franco-Chinese festival has remained the largest foreign festival in China with 15 million viewers since its inception.

In addition, Macron made a statement on the issues that he will meet with Cinping on his social media account: “I believe that China will play an important role in building peace. I am here to discuss this matter and make progress. We will also speak with President Xi Jinping about our business, climate and biodiversity, and food security.”