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.

Mr Xi urged the EU officials at the summit to "adhere to open cooperation and properly handle differences and frictions" after Ms von der Leyen warned that the bloc’s ties with China were at an “inflection point” and called for a rebalancing of trade ties with the world's second largest economy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping criticised Brussels's recent trade actions against Beijing at a tense summit dominated by concerns on trade and the Ukraine war.