Valdis Dombrovskis, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the euro and social dialogue, called on China to deliver on President Xi Jinping’s promises of allowing greater market access and also said China and Europe should set aside their differences on contentious trade issues and look to strengthen their cooperation on economic and environmental matters. Noting that European companies have repeatedly voiced concerns about access to Chinese markets, which are far less open than their European counterparts, the former Latvian Prime Minister said the EU was keen to know what Beijing would do to honor Xi’s pledge at the Communist Party’s 19th National Congress in October.

“We welcome the initiative President Xi made at the 19th Party Congress about openness, economic integration and international cooperation. We are interested to see what concrete initiatives there will be on market access for European companies,” he said. He added that the EU looked forward to “practical steps in terms of investment opportunities in certain sectors where there are restrictions on majority ownership for foreign companies, conditions and requirements over market access, and unusual market practices regarding technology transfer”. Dombrovskis said screening of foreign investments in Europe was “very limited” and only affected Chinese investments in a few strategically important sectors where national security interests were at stake. “I would say that access to the EU market is much more open as we have much fewer market access obstacles,” he said. According to the EU official, market access will be an important part of the ongoing talks on a bilateral investment treaty (BIT) between Beijing and Brussels.

He also defended new anti-dumping and anti-subsidy legislation the EU will soon put into effect, which critics say targets China and will threaten bilateral trade relations. China said the legislation violated its WTO commitments and encouraged protectionist trends.

China and France agreed to support free and fair trade, and for the first time pledged “reciprocal” treatment in their trade relations, following talks between French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire and Chinese Vice Premier Ma Kai at the High-Level Economic and Financial Dialogue in Beijing. Le Maire said that progress had been made in the food, aerospace, nuclear and finance sectors, while China recognized that government subsidies can lead to overcapacity in the steel sector. China and France signed more than 70 agreements covering economic and financial cooperation. China will open its market for import of French pork products, beef and baby milk powder. In addition, the country will also buy more Airbus A380 aircraft.