China must redress "unbalanced" trade ties, says EU's von der Leyen

The European Union is demanding that China redress an "unbalanced" trade and investment relationship and open its markets wider to European firms, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Monday.

"We continue to have an unbalanced trade and investment relationship. We have not made the progress we aimed for in last year's summit statement in addressing market access barriers," she told a news conference after a video summit with Chinese leaders.

"We need to follow up on these commitments urgently and we also need to have more ambition on the Chinese side in order to conclude negotiations on an investment agreement," she continued.