EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she would press for "fair" competition with China in talks with its President Xi Jinping, who is in Paris on a state visit. 

Beijing has fiercely responded to the latest probe into suspected unfair access to China's medical device industry, describing it as an example of "protectionism" by the EU.   

In a statement issued hours before a face-to-face Paris meeting between von der Leyen, Xi, and French President Emmanuel Macron, she said that they must act to ensure that competition is fair and not distorted. 

In an earlier meeting with Xi, she clarified that the current imbalances in market access are unsustainable and must be addressed.

China has been the target of numerous competition investigations in recent months. The investigations were led by von der Leyen's European Commission, the European Union's authority on trade issues. 

An EU investigation into Chinese wind turbine suppliers to the European market has also infuriated China. Chinese subsidies for solar panels, electric vehicles (EVs), and trains have been the subject of other Brussels investigations. 

The EU chief reiterated that it should derisk its relations but not decouple from China, saying that the EU will not penalize or obstruct trade streams in key sectors to the same extent as the US. 

She added that they have been very clear-eyed about their relationship with China, which is one of the most complex and important. 

Furthermore, von der Leyen said that over the last year, he has met with Xi twice, and they have spent some time discussing EU-China relations, from trade to climate, global affairs to digital issues. 

She emphasized the issue of Chinese overcapacity and how Chinese goods entered the EU at prices that made them uncompetitive for EU companies.