China quick to call Europe a partner – but talks on investment agreement ‘moving at snail’s pace’
- Foreign Minister Wang Yi emphasises partnership to new European Council president, as top EU trade official despairs of slow progress
- EU leadership has previously referred to China as a systemic rival
In a meeting with European Council President Charles Michel in Brussels on Tuesday, Wang said that “both sides should strengthen the consciousness of being partners” and “clarify we are partners but not competitors”, state news agency Xinhua reported.
But scathing remarks attributed to a top EU trade official suggested that the Brussels talks were being jeopardised by China moving too slowly to make any progress.
“At the moment we are not yet on a pathway to that,” Sabine Weyand, the European Commission’s director general for trade, said in Brussels on Tuesday, the Financial Times reported. “We are moving at a snail’s pace on the investment agreement.”
The report said diplomats were describing the investment treaty negotiations as part of a broader power struggle ahead of a summit between China and EU member states next September in Germany, when the host nation will hold the European bloc’s six-month rotating presidency.