Chinese President Xi Jinping met with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Beijing at a tense bilateral summit, making no headway on geopolitical disputes and only modest advances on trade and climate change. While EU leaders raised concerns over China's export surplus flooding European markets with cheap goods, and Beijing allegedly providing support for Russia's war in Ukraine, Chinese officials denied responsibility for these challenges and instead called for a deepening of the partnership. "As our cooperation has deepened, so have imbalances," von der Leyen told Xi during their meeting, describing EU-China trade imbalances as having reached "an inflection point" where China must "come forward with real solutions." But Xi told von der Leyen and European Council President Antonio Costa that "there are no fundamental conflicts of interest or geopolitical contradictions” between the two sides and urged the bloc to "properly handle differences and frictions." "It is hoped that the European side will keep the trade and investment market open and refrain from using restrictive economic and trade tools," Xi said, according to a Chinese version of a press release published by China's Foreign Ministry. Von der Leyen addresses trade imbalance between EU, China 05:27 China and EU to 'step up' efforts to address climate change Despite the apparent discrepancy over trade and the Ukraine war, the two sides found common ground on climate change, releasing a joint statement that reaffirmed their commitment to deepen cooperation on green transition. They have also agreed to establish what von der Leyen described as an "upgraded export supply mechanism" aimed at fast-tracking licenses for rare earth materials — over which China dominates global supply and has recently tightened export controls. Still, the summit is unlikely to shift the trajectory of EU-China tensions in the long run, said Abigael Vasselier, head of the foreign relations team at the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS), a think tank, during an online media briefing. "Europe needs to be ready for a long-term struggle and probably needs to rethink its China strategy at this stage," she said.