Summit talks between Chinese and European leaders ended on an off key note Monday as Premier Wen Jiabao rejected calls for a stronger Chinese currency and accused critics of seeking to undermine his country's rise.

The one-day summit with the 27-member European Union was the most substantive dialogue between China and its largest trading partner, a market of more than 500 million people, in more than two years.

It ended with the signing of five mostly technical agreements on energy, environmental cooperation, trade and investment, but no fresh initiatives on pressing global issues such as climate change.

China and the EU should rise above their differences, Wen said, before launching into a staunch defense of currency policies that European leaders say are pressuring the region's exporters, possibly endangering the economic recovery.

Keeping the yuan, also known as the renminbi, stable is what's best for China's economy and the world recovery, Wen insisted.

"Some countries demand change while practicing trade protectionism against developing countries," Wen told reporters, suggesting that such views were aimed at stifling China's development.

"This is unfair," he said. "We will maintain the stability of the renminbi at a reasonable and balanced level."

Like most summits in China, the event in Nanjing, west of Shanghai, was orchestrated to prevent major surprises, and no questions were allowed. After Wen's firm response, European leaders who had promised to brief reporters canceled those plans.

But Wen, like his European counterparts, balanced his criticisms with an emphasis on the need to keep on talking, despite their differences. "We forever will be friends, rather than rivals," Wen said. "We welcome the EU's efforts to increase cooperation."

The Europeans say that China is distorting trade and limiting its own monetary policy options by keeping the yuan tied to the weakening U.S. dollar in a bid to protect its manufacturers.

The weaker yuan also undermines Chinese purchasing power, hindering efforts to boost imports and better balance trade, financial chiefs of the 16-nation zone using the euro said in meetings Sunday.

China has pledged to gradually allow greater flexibility for the yuan, but chafes at open criticism of its policies.

Currency issues are just one area of contention on the economic front, despite joint calls by both sides for fighting protectionism and pushing ahead with global financial reforms and strategies to unwind massive recession-fighting stimulus programs.