EU-China trade talks a step up from last year
Two-day trade discussions between the European Union and China drew to a close on Friday (8 May) with both sides claiming them a success.
From a European perspective, the meeting allowed policy makers and a number of business leaders to voice their chief concerns to a higher-than-usual level of Chinese political seniority.
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The unprecedented Chinese delegation of 12 ministers was lead by vice-premier Wang Quishan, with EU trade commissioner Catherine Ashton heading up the Brussels side that contained a further eight commissioners and five directors general.
Fighting protectionism and the need for a quick completion of the Doha round of multi-lateral trade talks emerged as two central themes of the talks with Ms Ashton, saying trade and investment would lead the two countries out of the current crisis.
"The message that we are sending to our businesses and our citizens is that we are working together in these difficult times," she said.
Before talks got underway on Thursday, Mr Wang said both sides should oppose protectionism in "unequivocal terms," highlighting Chinese concern that the EU – its largest trading partner – could succumb to domestic pressures to restrict imports.
As a sign that China intended to keep its side of the bargain, Wang announced he would send a second delegation of Chinese companies to Europe in the coming months on a multi-billion-euro shopping spree.
In February, a team of Chinese companies toured European capitals, spending over €10 billion on European products.
Despite the calls from the two sides for a completion of the Doha round of trade talks, current differences between countries such as India and the United States remain a substantial barrier.
However, Mauro Petriccione, director for bilateral trade relations for the European commission says China is acting to build bridges between the warring sides in the hope of securing a deal.
Mr Petriccione described the EU-China trade talks as "much more substantive" than the first of their kind last year.
Market access
Of particular interest to European companies is the possibility of bidding for upcoming tenders under China's €435 billion stimulus package announced last year.
"We received assurances that the Chinese will keep their stimulus package fair, open and transparent. Will they be totally open? That's a different story," said Mr Petriccione.
But he added that so far the EU was not seeing the "backsliding" that had characterised the US stimulus package with its buy-American provisions.
"The recent US legislation on procurement that includes additional buy-American provisions is something we are not happy about," he said.
"We are equally not happy about the basic framework of public procurement in China, but we haven't seen that getting worse as a result of the crisis."
Both sides also announced their commitment to helping small and medium-sized enterprises, with the EU planning to open a centre to help European SMEs in China this September.
Intellectual property rights
The Chinese made no new arrangements in the area of intellectual property rights, instead re-iterating their commitment to step-up enforcement of rules introduced in recent years that forbid Chinese companies from copying patented European goods.
The current scale of the problem is considered large in a country where making a good copy has traditionally been considered an art in its own right.
Part of the problem is the complexity of the Chinese intellectual property rights legal framework and prosecution procedures, greatly slowing the pace and number of infringement proceedings being completed.