France–China Summit

French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday is to host Chinese leader Xi Jinping at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees mountains, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia's war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade.

Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to make a state visit to France on May 6 and 7, Paris announced on Monday, with wars in Ukraine and the Middle East expected to be high on the agenda.

The visit to France, which will be followed by trips to Serbia and Hungary, marks the Chinese leader's first European tour since the coronavirus pandemic.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told Chinese leader Xi Jinping that the EU and China must address "imbalances and differences" between them.

"China is the EU's most important trading partner," von der Leyen said at the start of the Beijing summit, "but there are clear imbalances and differences that we need to overcome."

European leaders met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Thursday for talks dominated by divisions between the bloc and its largest economic partner over everything from trade to the war in Ukraine.

China said Wednesday European Union export policies towards Beijing do not "make sense", on the eve of a high-level summit in the Chinese capital.

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen warned Tuesday, ahead of an annual EU-China summit, that Europe won't tolerate its soaring trade imbalance with China forever.

While the president of the European Commission stressed that EU states would prefer negotiations to a trade war she left an implied threat of protectionist measures on the table.