European Council President Antonio Costa met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang in the margins of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit that is taking place in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. They discussed EU-China bilateral relations and multilateral and global issues. “I underlined the importance that the EU attaches to constructive and stable relations with China, as well as our willingness to enhance cooperation to address global challenges”, a press statement released after the bilateral meeting reads. “I underlined that climate action has to remain top of our agendas” and that the upcoming COP30 on climate change in Brazil “will offer an opportunity for the EU and China to lead with ambition in order to achieve a successful outcome”. The European leader also “stressed the need to make concrete progress as a follow up to the EU-China Summit, more particularly to rebalance the trade and economic relationship”. In his speech, Costa expressed his “deep concern” about China’s expanding export controls on critical raw materials and related goods and technologies, and urged the Chinese Premier to “restore as soon as possible fluid, reliable and predictable supply chains”. With regard to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, Costa reaffirmed the EU’s intention to continue to “increase pressure on Russia”, and expressed the expectation that “China helps to put an end to the war” since it “is an existential security threat for the EU”.