The twentieth EU-China summit in Beijing on 16 July is expected to confirm the current good trade relations in the face of protectionism from the United States despite the various grievances in the European world of cases concerning restrictions on access to the Chinese market and other forms of Chinese economic discrimination.
A high-ranking EU official said on Friday 13 July that the Chinese want a good summit and are making an important commitment. On the European front, the adoption of a joint statement, which had not taken place at the last summit, is highly awaited (see EUROPE 11802).
The EU's leaders – president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, and president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker – along with their host, Chinese prime minister Li Keqiang, are expected to announce an exchange of offers in terms of market access in task over an investment agreement (see EUROPE 12048).
Launched in 2013, the negotiations have made slow progress in the second phase in terms of market access since the agreement reached in January 2016 on the scope of the agreement. Although the Beijing summit will give new impetus, Europe is not expecting any great progress. A European negotiator explained that there was still a lot to be done and it wouldn’t be very speedy.
Alongside investment, the summit will tackle devilment issues for other elements of the EU-China strategic partnership, namely security, human rights, sectoral cooperation and connectivity.
On trade, the EU and China will express support for the multilateral trade system governed by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and their commitment to cooperate to reform the WTO, including drawing up stronger international rules for subsidised industries. In this connection, the two sides agreed at the seventh EU-China dialogue in Beijing on 2 July to set up a working group.
The summit is expected to call for a speeding up of talks on an agreement recognising geographical indications.
European and Chinese leaders will discuss over-capacity in industry at global level, particularly for steel, and how this overcapacity in China is affecting EU industry. Europe will call for full implementation of all the recommendations made by the world steel forum piloted by the OECD.
EU-China connectivity will also be on the agenda: the two sides will discuss synergy between the Chinese initiative for a new silk road, One Road, One Belt, and EU initiatives inducing the upcoming strategy for EU-Asia connectivity, the investment plan for Europe and the trans-European transport networks.
The summit will provide an opportunity for discussions on cooperation on human rights via the EU-China dialogue on human rights.
When it comes to global challenges, the two sides will bring up cooperation for implementing the Paris Climate Agreement and will adopt a protocol of agreement on cooperation on carbon trading. The Beijing summit will give birth to a partnership agreement on oceans and fisheries (see related article).
Finally, the summit will address the traditional questions of cooperation in multilateral forums and at the G20, international security and defence issues, highlighting peace-keeping operations in Africa and the fight against terrorism, along with the latest developments in their respective neighbourhood policies with the Korean peninsula, Afghanistan, Burma, Iran, Syria, Africa and Russia/Ukraine. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry, with Mathieu Bion)