EU investment deal with China likely to hinge on three key elements, says European trade official
- Crucial European demands include subsidies to state-owned enterprises, access to the Chinese market and environmental issues, according to Ulrich Weigl
- ‘Fundamentally China will continue being what it is, all at the same time – a partner, a competitor and a systemic rival’
The European Union’s top trade diplomat in Beijing hinted on Wednesday that the bloc might not sign off an investment agreement with China by the December deadline without key demands on market access and state subsidies being met.
“For the EU, we are committed to the end of the year 2020 deadline to conclude the EU-China investment negotiation, but only if China commits to a level of ambition in substance for an agreement that is worth having,” Ulrich Weigl, head of trade section of the EU delegation to China, said in a web conference organised by the European People’s Party, the biggest group in the European Parliament.
Weigl said three issues were at stake.
“It is essential in these dynamics to see more ambition from China on market access,” Weigl said, referring to a long-standing complaint from Western companies trying to gain a foothold in China.
“This is about rebalancing the existing asymmetry in all levels of market openness, and that goes back to the fact that the EU market already is quite open to China, and China needs to make much more effort to show more ambition to liberalise on its side.’
Secondly, he said, “we need ambitious commitment on state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and on transparency on subsidies – again, effectively level the playing field and the conditions under which our companies, exports and investors [who] compete against these companies in China hope to succeed.”