BEIJING (AFP) – European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned in Beijing on Friday that “mutual trust” between the European Union and China has been “undermined”, considering that the lack of trade balance between the two sides is the result of “difficulties” facing European companies in the second… The largest economy in the world.
Published on: 10/13/2023 – 17:31 Last updated: 10/13/2023 – 17:29
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Josep Borrell arrived in China on Thursday to defend Europe’s “de-risking” strategy with its biggest trading partners and lay the foundations for a bilateral summit this year.
“Trust is the essence of every human relationship… and mutual trust has been undermined,” he told students at the prestigious Peking University on Friday.
He added, “We must work to restore this confidence. It will not return by a miracle.”
He stressed that the trade imbalance between the European Union and China, which amounts to 400 billion euros ($423 billion), is “not only quantitative but also qualitative.”
He said, “In my opinion and in our opinion, the reason is the result of the continuing difficulties that European companies face when they want to access the Chinese market.”
Problems to be solved
Josep Borrell’s visit, which was postponed twice this year, is scheduled to continue until Saturday. His visit began in Shanghai on Thursday with a meeting with European companies that addressed economic and trade challenges, which Borrell described as an “interesting exchange.”
The EU says the visit, the latest in a series of high-level dialogues with China, “should culminate in an EU-China summit later this year.”
The visit comes days after the outbreak of war between Israel and Hamas, after which Borrell called for an emergency meeting of European foreign ministers. For its part, China called on all parties to “ceasefire.”
Later Friday, Borrell met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing.
In a joint press conference that followed the meeting, Borrell said, “He stressed our condemnation…of Hamas attacks,” adding that the two sides “agreed that the only stable solution is the two-state solution.”
For his part, the Chinese Foreign Minister said that the reason for the conflict was “historical injustice” against the Palestinians.
He added, “The root of this problem lies in the long delay in achieving Palestine’s aspirations to establish an independent state, and in the fact that the historical injustice to which the Palestinian people were subjected has not been corrected.”
He continued, “Israel has the right to establish a state, and Palestine also has the right to establish a state… But who will care about the survival of the Palestinians? The Israeli nation is no longer displaced around the world. When will the Palestinian nation be able to return to its homeland?”
– ‘Difficult to understand’ situation –
Borrell also said he urged his Chinese counterparts to pressure Russia to end the ongoing war in Ukraine.
China has sought to position itself as a neutral party in this conflict, but the European Union has criticized its position.
During his visit to China last month, European Union Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said that Beijing’s position “affects the country’s image.”
Borrell said Friday that China’s position is “difficult to understand.”
He stressed, “We are not asking China to adopt the same view as the European Union” on the war.
He added, “But we consider it necessary for China to make a great effort to convince the Ukrainians that China is not Russia’s ally in this war.”
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who made an official visit to China in April, announced last month that the European Union had opened an investigation into Beijing’s provision of support for the rapidly growing electric car sector.
European leaders said that Chinese support for that sector led to unfair competition in their markets.
But Beijing criticized the investigation, warning that it would harm its trade relationship with the bloc.
Earlier this month, the European Union identified sensitive technologies that must be defended against competitors, including artificial intelligence.
© 2023 AFP
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2023-10-13 15:31:04
