BRUSSELS, July 8. /TASS/. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen is asking China to limit cooperation with Russia, among other things, ahead of its upcoming summit with the EU, without offering any concessions from the European Union.
What von der Leyen called "China’s unyielding support for Russia is creating heightened instability and insecurity in Europe." "We cannot accept this," she emphasized in a speech at an EP plenary joint debate on relations between the European Union and China.
Apart from the demand to reduce cooperation with Russia, von der Leyen called on China to open its market for European-made goods and services and to address state-subsidized overproduction. This, as the European Commission sees it, should help reduce the global share of Chinese exports and rebalance the EU’s trade with China, which saw a €304 billion trade deficit last year when bilateral trade amounted to €730 billion.
Von der Leyen did not mention anything that the EU would do for China.
The EU-China Summit to be held in Beijing on July 24 will mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the bloc and the East Asian nation.