Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Commission’s Executive Vice President for Economic Affairs, and Phil Hogan, Commissioner for Trade, met with Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and several Vice Ministers on the occasion of the eighth meeting of the China-EU High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue, which took place virtually on Tuesday 28 July.
Building on the discussions of the EU-China Summit on 22 June, the coordinated response to the health and economic emergencies imposed by the pandemic dominated the day’s agenda. “By pulling together, we can recover more quickly economically and make progress in areas of mutual interest such as trade and investment relations”, Dombrovskis said in a press release issued at the end of the meeting.
Challenges to global economic governance were also addressed, with the EU urging China to engage in serious reform of the multilateral system.
Moreover, the rebalancing of the economic relationship and the need to improve reciprocity in this relationship, in favour of European operators in China, were at the heart of the European agenda for this meeting.
“Such an approach to China would show a level of responsibility which reflects its economic and trade importance”, Mr Hogan said.
“We will need to make further progress on these and other issues before the next leaders’ summit in the autumn”, Dombrovskis warned (see EUROPE 12511/1).
Comprehensive Agreement on Investment
Thus, while the EU has noted “significant progress” made on level playing field related issues in the ongoing negotiations on a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment, similar work remains to be done in other areas, the Commission believes.
In particular, the case of market access was a main issue discussed at this meeting.
The EU has asked Beijing to improve its offer in the telecommunication and computer sectors, health, biotechnology and new energy vehicles.
Another sensitive issue is sustainable development, on which the EU urges China to redouble its efforts to engage meaningfully on these issues.
Friction points
Several “irritating” elements of the trade relationship, including some applied by Beijing under the pretext of controlling the Covid-19 pandemic, have also been pointed out by the EU.
European food imports in particular suffer most from these restrictions: - non-registration or lengthy registration procedures for European establishments exporting food and drink products to China; - ban on imports of EU beef/veal products due to BSE; - non-recognition of the principle of EU regionalisation for avian influenza and African swine fever; - restrictive food safety standards for trade in soft cheeses (such as mozzarella). The list is long.
Financial services
At the meeting, the EU also encouraged China to step up its efforts to open up access to financial services for European investors. Related regulatory issues were also discussed, including cooperation on green finance, equivalence assessments and the international role of the euro and the RMB, the press release reads.
Taxation
As part of its intensified fight against tax fraud, the Commission hopes to launch discussions with Beijing with a view to sealing an agreement on administrative cooperation in the field of value added tax (VAT). These agreements are based on the Regulation on administrative cooperation in the field of VAT, which currently provides the framework for intra-EU cooperation in this field (see EUROPE 11956/27). (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)