China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) said that the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is a mutually beneficial deal that will benefit the EU and the world, in response to a recent announcement by the European Parliament on freezing parliamentary debate on the deal. In responding to media questions, MOFCOM Spokesperson Gao Feng said that China and the EU are important economic and trade partners with close business exchanges in a wide range of areas of cooperation, and a pattern of intertwined interests has been formed. Despite the pandemic and a complex world, the Spokesperson told a press conference in Beijing that China-EU trade has continued to grow and two-way investment has increased steadily, which fully demonstrates the resilience and vitality of China-EU economic and trade cooperation. China-EU trade reached USD250.3 billion in the first four months of this year, up 42% year-on-year. In the same period, the EU's actual investment in China reached USD1.95 billion, up 12.4 %, while China's direct investment in the EU reached USD1.69 billion, up 70.8%, Gao noted.
Beijing has voiced strong disagreement with some Europeans defining China as a “rival”, warning that stoking China-EU political confrontation and economic decoupling “will not last long”. In particular, the suspended China-EU investment agreement is of great mutual benefit and “is not a gift given by one side to the other”, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said. The European Parliament adopted a resolution on May 20 freezing ratification of the landmark China-EU investment agreement after Beijing sanctioned some European politicians for attacking China on topics such as Xinjiang.
In his latest comment on China-EU relations, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that in the future China-Europe relations will embrace new opportunities and meanwhile confront various challenges. He made the remarks in a phone conversation with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The key is to firmly grasp the general direction of the comprehensive strategic partnership, properly manage differences and maintain the main tone of win-win cooperation, Xi said. Sanchez told President Xi that he was confident a consensus could be found on ratifying the long-awaited investment treaty with China, adding that Spain could play a constructive role in strengthening China-EU relations. China's Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao said during an online meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian that he hoped France would play a positive role in promoting the signing and entry into force of the CAI at an early date.
“The China-EU investment agreement is highly mutually beneficial, not a one-sided favor. The Xinjiang-related issue bears on China's sovereignty and security. Attempts by some in the EU to link issues of different nature and turn trade issues into political ones are not acceptable and would lead nowhere,” Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in an address to an online session on China at the Munich Security Conference. Political confrontation and economic decoupling with China go against the interests of Europe, as cooperation is the general direction and key to bilateral relations, Wang said. He pointed out that China is a trustworthy partner of all countries, not an institutional rival that confronts others.
Wang's remarks followed the passing of the European Parliament's motion on the CAI and Lithuania's decision to withdraw from the 17+1 cooperation mechanism between China and Central and Eastern Europe countries. Some U.S. and Western media outlets hyped the two “setbacks” as the latest indication of an increasingly “shaky relationship” between China and the European Union.
In an interview with the Süddeutsche Zeitung, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she continues to guarantee “every word” of the CAI. If the agreement can take effect, market access for European companies in China will be improved, and climate protection and labor standards will also be addressed, Merkel stressed. Germany has always upheld a pragmatic, cooperative and rational attitude toward China, since China has been its largest trading partner for five consecutive years. There are broad prospects for cooperation between the two sides in the fields of commerce and trade, global governance, digital economy, and energy security, and there is a great demand for the Chinese market, Zhao Junjie, Research Fellow at the Institute of European Studies of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times.
Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi met several European ministers during the weekend – the first face-to-face meetings since the European Parliament froze the CAI. Minister Wang met with the Foreign Ministers of Serbia, Poland, Hungary and Ireland in Guiyang. “The visit of the four Foreign Ministers to China in fact shows that major countries still attach great importance to the China-Europe relationship, underscoring the vitality of the business and trade partnership between the two sides,” Wang Yiwei, Jean Monnet Chair Professor and Director of the Center for European Union Studies at the Renmin University of China, told the Global Times. “The decision of the European Parliament made major European countries nervous. Through these visits to China, the foreign ministers of the European countries delivered an important message that China-EU cooperation will continue gaining momentum in the future,” he said.
This overview is based on reporting by the China Daily, Shanghai Daily and Global Times.
