China-EU summit: no breakthrough in trade imbalances or over the war in Ukraine

Ursula von der Leyen addressing reporters after the China-EU summit in Beijing. ‘We insist on fair competition within the single market. Therefore we also insist on fair competition from companies that come to our single market.’ Photograph; Andres Martinez Casares/EPA China and the EU have agreed that they have a shared interest in a balanced trade relationship, and promised to step up people-to-people exchanges after three years of mutual isolation during the coronavirus pandemic. But the first in-person EU-China summit in Beijing on Thursday produced no breakthroughs in the areas of greatest friction such as trade imbalances and the war…