Chief executive and chairman of the European Union (EU) met Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang over video link on Monday as part of a summit to plan out the future relationship between the two sides.

After the talks, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel said the two sides discussed issues including China-EU trade, foreign policy for COVID-19 response and China's Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

Investment deal 

The EU and China are huge trading partners, accounting for more than a third of the global GDP.

Both are keen to open up new business opportunities. However, there have recently been tensions over Europe's concerns that China's industrial giants are unfairly subsidized. For its part, China is unhappy at EU tariffs imposed on its companies in response to those fears. It says it adheres to World Trade Organization rules.

China says it will continue to open up its economy to foreign businesses, a key EU demand, and see common cause with Brussels in championing markets and multi-national rules in the face of U.S. protectionism.

Hong Kong

EU leaders have criticized a national security legislation proposed for the HKSAR on grounds that it "erodes trust," but stopped short of following the U.S. and threatening sanctions. However, China maintains that its internal affairs are of no concern to other nations and in any case the new rules will increase the stability and prosperity of its HKSAR while protecting individual rights.

Von der Leyen was under pressure to raise the issue directly.

Global supply chains 

The pandemic has shown how dependent the EU is on China. China has offered significant support to European nations during the crisis but voices within the bloc have warned that a more sovereign approach to supply chains is needed.

Disinformation 

Earlier this month, China denied accusations from Brussels that it had engaged "in targeted influence operations and disinformation campaigns around COVID-19 in the EU, its neighborhood and globally."

Read more: Xi and Merkel vow to take EU-China relationship 'to the next level'

Peace and security 

This focuses a lot on areas of cooperation, specifically around the Iran nuclear deal, Afghanistan, the DPRK, climate change and sustainable development. Clashes at the China-India border weren't be on the official agenda, but may have been discussed. China has blamed India for instigating clashes between soldiers from both countries, which reportedly left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, but India is adamant the incident was the result of Chinese hostility.

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