French President Emmanuel Macron and EU Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen were set to press China's President Xi Jinping on Monday to reduce trade imbalances and use his influence on Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Xi was in Europe for the first time in five years, at a time of growing trade tensions, with the European Union investigating several Chinese industries including electric vehicle exports, while Beijing is probing mostly French-made imports of brandy.
"The current imbalances in market access are not sustainable and need to be addressed," von der Leyen said in a statement, calling Europe's relation with China "one of the most complex, but also one of the most important."
"Europe cannot accept such market distorting practices that could lead to de-industrialisation in Europe," she said.
In a statement released on his arrival in Paris, Xi praised ties between the two nations.
Xi said ties between China and France were "a model for the international community of peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation between countries with different social systems".
Chinese state media sought to strike a conciliatory tone in various editorials.
"China-EU economic and trade cooperation is huge, and bumps and bruises are inevitable," the People's Daily, the Communist Party's flagship paper, wrote. "China is willing to strengthen communication and coordination with the EU, promote cooperation and resolve differences through dialogue."
The EU's 27 members - in particular France and Germany - are not unified in their attitude towards China. While Paris advocates a tougher line on the EV probe, Berlin wants to proceed with more caution, sources say.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz will not join Macron and Xi in Paris due to prior commitments, sources said.
"In Europe, we are not unanimous on the subject because certain players still see China as essentially a market of opportunities," Macron told newspaper La Tribune ahead of Xi's two-day visit.
France hopes to nudge China into pressuring Moscow to halt operations in Ukraine, with little progress apart from Xi's decision to call President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for the first time shortly after Macron visited Beijing last year.
France also hopes to push to open the Chinese market for its agricultural exports and resolve issues around the French cosmetic industry's concerns about intellectual property rights, officials said. China, meanwhile, may announce an order for around 50 Airbus aircraft during Xi's visit.
After Paris, Macron will on Tuesday take Xi to the Pyrenees, a mountainous region dear to the French president as the birthplace of his maternal grandmother, before Xi heads to Russia-friendly Serbia and Hungary.
