The 21st China-EU leaders’ meeting: joint statement includes timetable for implementation of reforms
April 16, 2019 Category China News Round-up, EU-China Relations
From left to right, European Council President Donald Tusk, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in Brussels on April 9.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told European leaders state subsidies were for protecting workers and not a form of illegal support for industries as he defended China’s industrial practices from criticism. In a summit with EU leaders on April 9 in Brussels, Li called on the bloc to treat Chinese companies as it would treat its own. “Some of the subsidies we give are for laid-off workers, so that they do not lose their livelihoods,” said Li, answering questions from journalists at a press conference to conclude the summit. “They are not for industrial competitiveness.” Li said that China respected World Trade Organization (WTO) rules and would work with the EU and other entities to reform it and address the issue of subsidies. The agreement on subsidies included in the final statement was described as a “breakthrough” by European Council President Donald Tusk at the same press conference. “For the first time, China has agreed to engage with Europe on this key priority for WTO reform.” Tusk said that he hoped talks on subsidies would progress speedily before the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, in June, where China is likely to face again pressure from major economies.
“This year’s joint statement is quite different from previous years’, which were always just vague announcements of intent without any plan of action,” said Ding Chun, Economics Professor at the Center for European Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai. “The EU has been growing increasingly impatient with China’s attitude, but this time China has responded.” Finally, China agreed to provide concrete timelines for the implementation of the reforms it had promised. By the end of this year, China and the EU would agree on a list of geographical indications, a scheme by which the EU seeks to protect its farmers by giving labels to products whose qualities are linked to their specific geographical origin, for example Champagne or Parmesan. An investment agreement between China and the EU would also be signed “by the end of next year, or earlier”. Jo Leinen, Chair of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China, regarded these promises as a consequence of the EU’s tougher stance, the South China Morning Post reported.
The drafting of the joint statement didn’t go smoothly as EU diplomats showed their impatience with China’s lack of solid promises or follow-through on when and how it would deliver the market reforms the EU had been waiting for years to see. But China’s Ambassador to the EU, Zhang Ming, said in an interview with Politico that he disagreed with the label of “systemic rival” the EU had adopted, saying: “In Chinese culture, rivals are bound to seek superiority over the other side.”
The Spanish Ambassador to China, Rafael Dezcallar de Mazarredo, called on Beijing to open its market and level the playing field to close the “substantial” trade gap between the two countries. The Ambassador added: “The Belt and Road projects are contributing to the Spanish economy, but we have problems in our trade balance with China. We would like to find ways to solve it, but I don’t think the Belt and Road is a way to solve that problem.” Dezcallar stressed that the EU was “not a secondary player” and would walk its own path independent of Washington. The path for Europe was to have “good communication” with China in continuing to negotiate over their differences.
Following the EU-China Summit, Premier Li Keqiang paid a visit to Croatia and attended the 16+1 Summit of 11 Central and East-European EU member states and five Balkan countries. Greece was accepted as a new member of the China-CEEC cooperation platform at the meeting in Dubrovnik, co-chaired by Premier Li Keqiang and Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic. Li Keqiang said that China is willing to expand imports of goods from CEE nations, particularly agricultural products that cater to the demand of Chinese consumers. Trade of farm goods, machinery and electric devices should be further boosted and logistics sped up between the trading partners, he added.
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