The first day of Chinese President Xi Jinping's two-day state visit to France was marked by trade disputes, France reported press, quoted by BTA.
Xi dismissed concerns expressed by his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
The three leaders met this morning at the Elysée Palace. They demonstrated a common desire to put an end to the war in Ukraine, but did not try to hide their disagreements on the other major topical issue - tensions in world trade, summarizes AFP.
Macron said he wanted to raise in a spirit of "friendship and trust" the issue of "concerns to try to overcome them", calling for "just rules" in trade.
The EU "will not hesitate to take firm decisions" to "protect its economy and security," Von der Leyen stressed.
She attended the talks at the Elysée Palace, like previous France-China summits, to demonstrate the European Union's united position in the field of trade, notes AFP.
Von der Leyen earlier criticized "unfair competition" by China through "huge subsidies", for example for the production of electric cars and steel.
"The so-called problem of China's production capacity does not exist," Xi Jinping replied. The Chinese president also said that his country is helping to increase world supply, which contributes to easing inflationary pressures on a global scale.
However, trade disputes between the EU and China are numerous and may lead to the imposition of punitive tariffs. In recent months, Brussels has stepped up investigations into Chinese state subsidies in a number of economic sectors, most notably the production of electric cars.
In a veiled criticism of Germany, the French president admitted yesterday that the countries of the union "are not unanimous" in your strategy. Europe's biggest economy is often criticized for playing it alone in an attempt to keep its car exports in the Chinese market, AFP points out.
China rejects many of the European measures as protectionist. Authorities in the world's second-largest economy have launched an investigation specifically into subsidies for French cognac, which has been criticized by Macron.
The French president is still trying to play the role of a balancer between the two world powers - the US and China.
Xi Jinping arrived in France yesterday, starting his first tour of Europe since 2019. He was welcomed with a very pompous ceremony at the Home of the Invalids in Paris, notes AFP.
After France, Xi will also visit Hungary and Serbia - two European countries that maintain good relations with China and are considered close to Russia.