European Union officials are confused by China’s failure to commit to a date for the High-level Trade and Economic Dialogue, one of the few deliverables from their summit on April 1, according to sources in Brussels, the South China Morning Post reports. Both parties agreed to continue the talks, held every two years, during the virtual summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel.
“Leaders mandated to find concrete ways to progress on these issues before the summer,” the EU said in a statement after the summit. The EU says China failed so far to reply to its proposals to fix a date. Proposed dates for the dialogue in June have “now slipped”, and the EU has suggested others for July, the latest of which is July 18, but China has still not responded. Sources said China's reasons for not fixing a date were unclear.
It has now been more than six months since China had an Ambassador to the European Union, with no news of a replacement for Zhang Ming, who left in December to become head of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The Chinese Mission to the EU did not respond to a request for information on when a new Ambassador would be appointed. In Beijing, EU diplomats have also found it more difficult to speak to their Chinese counterparts, who say they prefer to engage directly with member states, according to EU sources.
Meanwhile, senior sources said the EU was “leaning towards” taking the next step in a World Trade Organization (WTO) dispute over China’s alleged coercion of Lithuania. There has been vigorous debate in the EU Trade Department over whether to bring the case before a dispute panel, although a final decision is not expected before the summer break. The dispute centers on Lithuania’s decision in November to change the name of the Taipei Representative Office in the country. Subsequently China Customs made Lithuanian exports to China more cumbersome, leading to a sharp drop. The Lithuania case is complicated by reluctance among businesses to give evidence on the record, a requirement for evidence to be presented to the WTO tribunal in Geneva, according to EU trade sources. Another issue is that China has not declared a total embargo as more Lithuanian goods have been getting through Chinese customs this year, even if the overall value of shipments is a fraction of the levels a year earlier.
