EU-China relations continue to fray

EU relations with China continued to deteriorate over the weekend, as EU leaders criticised Beijing for cancelling Monday's (1 December) summit and for executing Austrian-educated scientist Wo Weihan on spy charges.

"We know that China is extremely sensitive when it comes to Tibet and relations with the Dalai Lama. But frankly there was no reason for this decision [to cancel the summit]," European Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso said on France's RTL radio on Sunday.

"He [the Dalai Lama] has the right to meet whoever he wants."

The remarks come after China last week called off the 11th EU-China summit in protest at French President Nicolas Sarkozy's plan to meet the Dalai Lama while in Poland on Saturday.

The Dalai Lama - a leading advocate of autonomy for Tibet, which has remained in Chinese hands since 1951 - will also address the European Parliament on Thursday.

The EU's top diplomat, Javier Solana, on Friday also rebuked Beijing for executing 59-year old biochemist Wo Weihan - whose daughters are Austrian citizens - on charges of passing secrets to Taiwan.

Mr Weihan was killed with a shot to the head the same day the EU had urged China to reconsider his case at an EU-China human rights council in the Chinese capital.

"This execution seriously undermines the spirit of trust and mutual respect required for this EU-China dialogue on human rights," Mr Solana's office said.

"This behaviour must in this regard be considered by the entire EU as a premeditated affront," Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik added.

The Chinese reaction to the EU reprimands has been equally caustic.

"[France] wants to play the Tibet card and at the same time maintain good economic trade relations with China, which is very difficult to achieve," Chinese state-sanctioned analyst Feng Zongping wrote in the official China Daily newspaper on Saturday.

"China doesn't want the West to think that 'OK, we will meet the Dalai Lama and business will go on as usual'."

EU-China relations usually revolve around trade, with the EU buying €231 billion worth of goods from China last year and exporting €72 billion in return.

But human rights concerns came to the fore during the Beijing Olympics, when scores of EU leaders stayed away from the opening ceremony after Chinese troops shot Tibetan protestors.

China is also unhappy that the EU continues to uphold an arms export embargo dating back to the 1989 Tiananmen square massacre.

The latest summit and death penalty row could play into the hands of European leaders keen to restrict the flow of Chinese imports during the EU's economic downturn, experts warn.

"Protectionist sentiment toward China in Europe has been growing for a while," Center for European Reform analyst Katinka Barysch wrote in the Wall Street Journal.

"Anti-China sentiment is on the rise in Germany ...Even in traditionally liberal Britain, people who see China as an economic threat outnumber those who see it as an opportunity by four to one."