Chinese Premier Li Keqiang speaking on Tuesday at the end of the annual EU-China summit, this year held in Brussels, Belgium. Photo: AFP
At the end of its annual summit meeting with the European Union on Tuesday, China vowed to boost trade ties with the EU by providing a “level playing field” for their businesses, while Chinese Premier Li Keqiang flatly denied claims that Beijing was behind any sort of industrial espionage that had raised the concerns of EU member nations.
In a diplomatic win for China, EU leaders departed from recent confrontational statements and did not make any references to China as a “systemic rival”, or call its trade practices “unfair”.
For the EU, China’s agreement to broaden market access, oppose forced technology transfer and cooperate on World Trade Organisation reform regarding industrial subsidies was regarded as progress.
At the meeting in Brussels, China and the EU also agreed to forge synergies between China’s “Belt and Road Initiative” (BRI) and the EU’s own Connecting Europe and Asia programme, which hopes to increase connectivity between Europe and Asia, as well as its planned Trans-European Transport Networks set of road, rail, air and water systems.
The two sides managed to draft a joint statement, despite earlier suggestions that EU leaders might walk away from negotiations amid a tougher European stance on China’s business practices.
Harmony is essential, if hard to come by these days: The EU is China’s biggest trading partner, and China is the EU’s second-biggest partner – after the United States.
Speaking alongside European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and the European Council President Donald Tusk in Brussels on Tuesday, Li said that China would sign a long-overdue investment deal with the EU “by the end of next year, or earlier”.
EU representatives have previously complained that China had made such assurances for years while enacting few actual reforms. But the premier stressed that the laying out of deadlines for the changes he agreed to showed Beijing’s intention of making good.
“This joint statement is not just a general declaratory statement,” Li told the post-summit news conference. “Not only will this be conducive to China’s reform and opening up, but also Europe’s unity and prosperity.”
“When we say it, we have got to do it. When we do it, there will be achievements,” he said.
Tusk described the negotiations as “difficult but ultimately fruitful”, adding: “We managed to agree on a joint statement which sets the direction for our partnership based on reciprocity.”
The summit came amid heightened EU scepticism about China’s economic might and its intentions, with companies such as telecoms giant Huawei Technologies – which has been accused of sharing information with the Chinese government – facing more scrutiny as they attempt to expand their European presence.
Chinese enterprises operating abroad ought to respect international rules as well as the laws and regulations of the respective countries —
Li insisted that Beijing did not support any attempts by Chinese firms to steal technologies or other intellectual property. “Chinese enterprises operating abroad ought to respect international rules as well as the laws and regulations of the respective countries,” Li said.
He added: “The Chinese government has never requested, let alone imposed any laws or regulations requiring, Chinese enterprises overseas to infringe on intellectual properties, commercial interests or personal privacy – or to conduct eavesdropping.
“This is not the Chinese people’s way of doing things.”
Li called on Europe to treat Chinese companies equally.
The two sides managed to draft an eleventh-hour joint statement after the 21st summit between the two sides, despite earlier suggestions that Europe might walk away from negotiations amid a tougher European stance on China’s business practices.
A key aspect of Li’s statement is his guarantee about giving EU businesses further access to China markets; among the sectors Beijing has previously discussed are telecommunications, educational and medical services.
The premier said he expected great progress to be made by the time of next year’s summit.
China also agreed that “there should not be forced transfer of technology”, according to the joint statement.
On industrial subsidies, Li insisted that any discussions with EU would have to “be based on WTO rules” with reference to China’s own situations.
“Some subsidies we handed out were for the unemployed workers so that they wouldn’t lose life support. They were not for the sake of [boosting] business competitiveness,” Li said.