Brussels, 05/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - The 18th EU-China summit in Beijing on 12-13 July is expected to provide momentum for the negotiations for a bilateral agreement on investment. The EU is hoping for an exchange of offers on market access “as soon as possible” in 2016.
As part of the ten year strategic agenda for EU-China cooperation that was adopted at the 16th bilateral summit in Beijing in November 2013 (EUROPE 10968), the strengthening of economic and political relations between the two partners will be at the centre of this summit. In addition, the summit will also enable preparations for the G20 summit, which is to be chaired by China in Hangzhou (China) on 4-5 September.
This will be the first official visit to China of European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker in their current posts. High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini, European Commission Vice-President for Jobs, Growth, Investment and Competitiveness Jyrki Katainen, and European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström will also be part of the EU delegation and will be hosted by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang. A dinner has been scheduled with China's President Xi Jinping.
The Beijing summit will firstly be an opportunity to consolidate progress in the negotiations for a free trade agreement on investment protection, after the round of technical level talks that took place last week. The European and Chinese leaders are expected to give political guidelines on finalising these negotiations, in particular on setting a time limit for an exchange of offers on market access, a European source told EUROPE on Tuesday 5 July. “We have the intention to exchange market access offers as soon as possible this year. This is something which needs to be carefully prepared. It is the intention to do this in the next few months”, the source said.
The European and Chinese leaders are also expected to take stock of progress on an initial list of projects as part of the EU-China connectivity platform. This platform was launched at the previous bilateral summit in June 2015 and aims at improving infrastructure and transport links between the EU and China (EUROPE 11342). Its objective is to link the EU's priorities as part of the Trans-European Network - Transport (TEN-T) and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) with China's priorities as part of its One Belt One Road initiative.
The parties will also discuss China's contribution to the EFSI, the financial arm of the investment plan for Europe. This contribution is currently more modest than expected, as China's commitment “is currently up to €2 billion”, the same source stated.
The European and Chinese leaders are also expected to address the issue of the impact on EU industry of Chinese industrial overcapacity, especially the issue of overcapacity in the steel sector. The thorny issue of the EU granting China market economy status is also likely to come up.
“China will certainly be encouraged by our leaders to play a leading role in the global effort to cut overcapacities and this applies in particular to the steel sector but also in aluminium and pottery”, the source said. “The issue of overcapacity will be reflected in the final statement. But whether we have a language which would show a full convergence of views, I would expect that this is not yet the case”, the source stated.
The summit is also expected to announce the launch of the second phase of the bilateral agreement on mobility and migration, including negotiations on visa facilitation and for a readmission agreement.
The two parties are also due to commit to increasing their cooperation on foreign policy and to develop their defence and security cooperation more, especially cooperation on maintaining peace and security in Africa and on fighting against terrorism.
The summit will furthermore be an opportunity for the EU to reaffirm its desire for the improvement of human rights in China, the source told EUROPE.
As regards climate, the summit is due to advance implementation of the agreement reached at the UN climate conference in Paris last December (COP 21), and to assess implementation of the 2015 EU-China statement on climate change.
In addition, with regard to regional and foreign policy, recent developments in the neighbourhood of the EU (Ukraine) and of China (the South China Sea, the Korean peninsula) will also be on the agenda, as will the situations in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan.
On the European side, this summit comes as part of the new five-year EU strategy on China, which was tabled by Mogherini on 22 June. The new strategy is aimed at replacing the previous 2006 strategy (EUROPE 11578) and it will be included in conclusions from the July Council. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)