China's EU envoy urges tough line against Trump's trade policy

Read the full interview below

Handelsblatt: Mister Ambassador, last Friday the United States imposed a 25% tariff on Chinese products with a volume of 34 billion US dollars and China retaliated at the same magnitude. Is the trade war now inevitable?

Zhang Ming: Before talking about such bad things please let me start with good news. China and the EU are working intensively to prepare for the 20th China-EU summit.

Handelsblatt: To be held on the 19th of July in Beijing?

Zhang: Actually from 16 to 17 July. Both sides share the view that China-EU comprehensive cooperation is conducive to global growth, peace and stability. Under the current global circumstances, both sides wish to present a positive outlook on China-Europe cooperation. The summit is expected to achieve the following goals. First it will fully demonstrate the positive commitment of China and the EU to deepen practical cooperation. And it will also highlight the consensus of the two sides on international issues and on the strategic significance of China-EU relations. The second goal is to chart the future course and identify new areas of cooperation. And the third goal is that in light of the current hot-spot issues and global challenges, we hope to send a positive message on upholding the multilateral trading system.

Handelsblatt: The current hot spot issue is the trade dispute with the US. It seems that China wishes to pull the EU on its side in this conflict. What has China to offer the Europeans in terms of market opening, for example, the investment agreement talks?

Zhang: These are two different issues: the tensions in global trade and the China-EU talks about an investment treaty.

Handelsblatt: Europeans don't see much progress in these talks.

Zhang: Both sides regard the talks as a priority in the economic and trade relations. According to the agreement reached during last week's China-EU High-level Economic and Trade Dialogue, both sides would seek to exchange market access offers during the upcoming summit. If that happens, it would be a significant and encouraging progress.

Handelsblatt: Europeans are not happy with the fact that Chinese companies are going on a buying spree in Europe but on the other side China does still close its own market to European investors.

Zhang: Our bilateral trade has enjoyed a fast development and exceeded 610 billion US dollars in 2017. With that, investment is developing as well.

Handelsblatt: For Chinese investment in Europe this is true…

Zhang: No, mutual. The EU is currently the third-largest source of investments for China. A growing number of Chinese companies are now going global and looking for global partners including European partners. No doubt that such investments have contributed to growth, employment and tax revenues of the host countries. Especially when the financial crisis hit Europe, Chinese investment played a positive and helpful role.