Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 19, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

Chinese President Xi Jinping has called for more concerted efforts to enhance China-Europe relations and address shared challenges amid profound global changes, and urged both sides to resolve economic and trade differences through dialogue.

He made the appeals on Tuesday during meetings with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20 Leaders' Summit, an annual meeting that gathers leaders of the world's major economies to address global issues.

Joint efforts

Over the past decades, China has maintained sound and stable relations with both Germany and France despite the complex international situation. This has been marked by frequent high-level visits, fruitful practical cooperation in various fields, and close people-to-people exchanges.

During his meeting with Scholz, Xi said the two countries need to consolidate the comprehensive strategic partnership from a long-term and strategic perspective and continue to write cooperative stories of mutual achievement.

China and Germany share highly integrated economic interests, and bilateral cooperation is an opportunity for shared development and common future, Xi said, noting that China regards Germany as an important partner in advancing Chinese modernization, and will continue to provide broad market opportunities for German companies.

While meeting Macron, the Chinese president recalled his visit to France in May, during which the two heads of state outlined a vision for the next 60 years of China-France relations and jointly spoke out on global challenges and hotspot issues, leaving a wide and positive impact on the international arena.

China-France relations are of unique strategic significance and global influence, and the new round of reform and opening-up process in China will create fresh opportunities for China-France cooperation and broaden the scope for practical cooperation between the two nations, he noted.

Currently, the international community is faced with mixed and severe challenges, including rising protectionism and unilateralism, climate change, and escalating regional conflicts.

Addressing these concerns, Xi emphasized the importance of sustained China-EU cooperation and the crucial roles of Germany and France in the process.

He told the German chancellor that China regards Europe as an important pole in a multi-polar world, and is committed to cooperating with Europe to jointly meet challenges and promote the sustained, steady and sound development of China-EU relations.

Xi also said China and France, both major countries, share common responsibilities to lead the international community to unite in efforts to address global challenges at a time when many new changes are unfolding in the international landscape.

He called on Beijing and Paris to deepen strategic communication, strengthen mutual support, maintain a momentum of steady and positive development of bilateral relations, and make greater contribution to the sound development of China-Europe relations and world peace and stability.

In response, Macron said that the world today is full of instabilities and uncertainties, and France upholds strategic autonomy and is willing to engage in dialogue and cooperation with China, maintain a sound and steady development of bilateral economic and trade relations, and strengthen cooperation in climate change, global AI governance and other fields.

Solve trade disputes via talks

At his meeting with Scholz, Xi raised the issue of the EU's tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), a major hotspot trade issue between the two sides, and asked the German leader to help resolve the dispute.

The EU's tariffs on Chinese EVs are drawing attention around the world, and China always insists on resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, Xi said.

People visit the pavilion of Chinese carmaker Leapmotor at the 2024 Paris Motor Show during the media day in Paris, France, Oct. 14, 2024. [Photo/Xinhua]

It is hoped that Germany will continue to play an important role in this regard, Xi said, noting the two countries should focus on upgrading cooperation through digitalization, intelligence and low-carbon action, and work together to explore third-party markets to achieve win-win cooperation.

For his part, Scholz voiced hope that the EU and China will solve the issue of EVs as soon as possible through dialogue and negotiation, noting that the German side is willing to make positive efforts in this regard.

Germany hopes to further develop the comprehensive strategic partnership with China, strengthen bilateral and multilateral dialogue and cooperation in the spirit of equality, frankness and mutual respect, properly resolve differences, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and contribute to world economic recovery, growth and common prosperity, Scholz added.

In a protectionist move, the European Commission finalized its decision last month to levy tariffs on Chinese-made EVs with varying rates on Chinese EV manufacturers, including BYD, Geely and SAIC, among others.

The decision has sparked strong opposition from key industry stakeholders with major European automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, voicing a unified stance against the tariffs while advocating for open markets that support fair competition.

As observers have cautioned, these tariffs will weaken the competitiveness of the European industry in the long term. Hildegard Mueller, president of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, dismissed the EU's move as "a step backwards for global free trade and thus for prosperity, job security and growth in Europe."

BMW CEO Oliver Zipse warned that the tariffs could "harm the business model of globally active companies, limit the supply of electric cars to European customers and thus slow down decarbonization in the transport sector."

In a recent interview with Xinhua, Ola Kaellenius, chairman of the board of management of Mercedes-Benz, said protectionism in the form of tariffs "is the wrong way to go, because we believe it stifles growth, it stifles innovation, and it does not create a win-win situation for everybody."

"The right direction would be to sit down with our Chinese partners, discuss a level playing field, and make sure that we come to some kind of a negotiated solution that both parties continue to have access to markets that are opening up and are not creating borders," he said. 

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