Brussels, 21/11/2013 (Agence Europe) - The 16th EU-China summit has also given birth to a new ten-year strategic plan, a dialogue on innovation and a strengthened partnership on urbanisation.
Meeting in Beijing on 21 November for the 16th the EU-China summit, EU and Chinese leaders celebrated the tenth anniversary of the strategic partnership between the 28 EU member states and China by committing to make an already significant partnership even stronger by 2020. President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and China's Prime Minister Li Keqiang discussed a new strategic plan for cooperation for the decade to come. This is an “unprecented” plan with regard to its scope - which includes aerospace, the fight against piracy, urbanisation and energy, said Li.
The EU and China also officially launched negotiations for an agreement on investment, covering the legal protection of investments (fair and non-discriminatory treatment, compensation in case of expropriation, and legal security) and reciprocal market access for EU and Chinese investors. Brussels and Beijing hope to complete this agreement within 30 months from now - an agreement which will replace the 27 bilateral investment agreements that exist between the member states and China (only Ireland has not had one thus far), and it should boost investment flows which are still below their potential given the level of integration of the two economies. EU foreign direct investment (FDI) in China stood at €17.5 billion in 2011, Chinese FDI in the EU stood at €2.8 billion, while bilateral trade in goods is enormous (€435 billion in 2012). Li wants to see this volume doubled by 2020.
Within the framework of a summit that had green growth as its leading theme, Van Rompuy, Barroso and Li also launched a high-level dialogue on innovation, and strengthened the partnership on urbanisation which was started in 2012. Urbanisation was also the subject of a professional forum organised on the sidelines of the summit. While China wants to promote a more sustainable development model which is less polluting so as to address its urban population explosion and the rise of new megacities, the EU wants to focus on its expertise on this and to open up big trade prospects.
Lastly, the chapter on human rights was the subject of frank discussions - during which Van Rompuy said he had taken careful note of the decisions adopted by the central committee of the Chinese Communist party last week - including the progressive abolition of the system of re-education through labour camps (the laojiao) and the gradual reduction of the number of crimes punishable by the death penalty. While he described these decisions as “great progress”, Van Rompuy stressed the EU's concern about the protection of minorities and the freedom of expression in China - especially human rights defenders. Although the new Chinese regime has again clamped down - particularly through censorship of the internet - Van Rompuy said he wanted the EU and China to improve their dialogue on human rights through the new channels of communciation opened up by the EU special representative for human rights, Stavros Lambrinidis, when he visited China in mid-September. (EH/transl.fl)