BEIJING (AP) — China and the European Union have issued a joint call to action on climate change during an otherwise tense bilateral summit in Beijing on Thursday riven with major disagreements over trade and the war in Ukraine.

Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa, the heads of the European Commission and the European Council respectively, will be in Beijing for a summit to mark the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union.

Chinese leader Xi Jinping urged the European Union to make “the right strategic choice” and enhance cooperation with China, while EU leaders called for a rebalancing of trade ties, as the two sides tackle deep-seated grievances at a tense summit in Beijing.

A look into public opinion results provides an interesting complement to government-level dynamics in four nations’ respective bilateral relations with Beijing.

A joint statement promised new efforts to cut emissions at a time when China is positioning itself as the world’s one-stop shop for clean energy technologies.

In May EU leaders said they were ready to “work hand in hand” with China to deal with “common challenges”. But the Europeans’ short-lived friendliness was as much an attempt to manipulate the Americans as it was a bid to woo the Chinese,

That's the approximate size of the European Union's trade deficit with Beijing, which has doubled over the past decade and become a larger issue for the bloc's officials. "We need to see progress on this issue,

In Europe, the shift has been palpable. While trade remains robust between the European Union and China, policymakers in many of the continent’s capitals share the United States’ skepticism ...

China controls 85 per cent of global rare-earth processing, a significant risk for Europe. Breaking free from China’s dominance of rare earths will not be a simple feat for the European Union, even though both sides reached a tentative deal to ease Beijing’s limitations on their exports.