China-EU relations: Beijing calls on European business group to help ‘clear up doubts’ tarnishing economic relations

Name: Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims
Uploaded: 2021-10-20T16:00:20.000Z
Duration: 3 min 36 s
Description: Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims

Commerce minister Wang Wentao met with Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, to discuss China-EU economic ties

Wang reassured European firms that China was not closing its economy under ‘dual circulation’ and was committed to providing more investment opportunities

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Commerce minister Wang Wentao says he hopes European firms in China can play a bridging role between the two countries. Photo: Reuters

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Published: 12:00am, 21 Oct 2021Updated: 1:10am, 21 Oct 2021

Beijing has called on the European business community in China to do more to “enhance trust” and “clear up doubts” threatening to hold back the bilateral economic relationship.

At a meeting on Tuesday, commerce minister Wang Wentao told Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China, the government hoped the association would continue to play a bridging role between the two economies, according to a summary of the talks released by the Chinese commerce ministry.

The meeting was the latest effort by China to deepen engagement with the European Union (EU) at a time when bilateral relations are at their lowest point in decades, following tit-for-tat sanctions over alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

In recent weeks, Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke to Germany’s outgoing Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Council President Charles Michel, with the latter agreeing to hold a summit with Beijing to resolve issues over Xinjiang.

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Beijing hits back at Western sanctions against China’s alleged treatment of Uygur Muslims

Tuesday’s talks took place against a backdrop of heightened concern among European firms in China overBeijing’s new strategy of increased economic self-reliance and rising nationalism.