Brussels, 03/09/2001 (Agence Europe) - China joining the WTO, negotiations over agreements in the shipping and customs sectors and the reform of the EU/China political dialogue on human rights will be the main topics discussed at the Fourth EU/China Summit in Brussels on Wednesday. The Chinese Prime Minister, Zhu Rongii, will head a large delegation of 135 people, including 12 ministers. The EU delegation will be headed by the Belgian Prime Minister and President of the Council of the EU, Guy Verhofstadt, and will be composed of the President of the Commission, Romano Prodi, the High Representative for CFSP, Javier Solana, and the Commissioner for Trade, Pascal Lamy and the Commissioner for External Relations, Chris Patten. A Commission spokesperson explained on Monday that three long years of preparatory work had made it possible to give a new burst of energy to several sectors which have been covered by a deep level of cooperation. It is in this context, the spokesperson explained, that the Summit would tackle the most difficult aspects of the relationship in a generally positive atmosphere.
Politically, the discussions will look at new areas that the EU wants to address as part of the dialogue with Beijing, namely disarmament, non-proliferation and regional security issues. The human rights situation will also be discussed, stressed an EU diplomat, who pointed out that in its Conclusions of 22 January and 19 March 2001, the Council of the EU had highlighted the need to make the bilateral dialogue launched in 1997 more concrete in the area of human rights. The Conclusions noted progress in terms of social and economic rights in China but the EU remained concerned at the absence of trade union rights and the lack of progress over civil and political rights and the freedom of expression, religion and association. The Commission recalled, in view of the upcoming Summit, that it was funding several cooperation programmes in China in the field of human rights supporting the training of lawyers in order to encourage the introduction of the rule of law (EUR 13.2 million); training regional political leaders (EUR 10.5 million); supporting the Chinese Federation of the Disabled (EUR 1 million); and training law students at Hong Kong University (EUR 450,000). The Commission is also shortly expected to approve a EUR 1.4 million project to help China ratify the United Nations' conventions on political, economic and social rights signed by Beijing in 1997 and 1998.
Trade will be important ahead of the technical meeting in Geneva on 10 September which is expected to settle the remaining technical issues surrounding the bilateral agreements signed by China with WTO members ahead of China joining the World Trade Organisation. China's membership is expected to be endorsed at the WTO's Doha meeting in November. The EU is expected to reiterate its financial and technical aid proposal accompanying the implementation of China's commitments to the WTO. Commissioner Lamy will be meeting the Chinese Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister, Shi Guangsheng against the background of the Summit.
In terms of cooperation, the Summit is expected to confirm the new direction proposed by the Commission in its May 2001 Communication that proposed to extend sectoral cooperation and helping China to become integrated in the international community. In practical terms, negotiations are likely to be launched next year on a customs cooperation agreement (combating counterfeiting, customs documentation, etc) and negotiations over a bilateral shipping agreement are expected to start on 13/14 September.
The shipping agreement will aim to allow EU companies to be treated under the same conditions as Chinese ships in Chinese ports, the recognition of the right of establishment and an easing of door-to-door transport conditions. The negotiations had been in deadlock since 1998 but the visit of the Transport Commissioner, Ms de Palacio, to Beijing in June 2001 seems to have got the ball rolling again.
The Summit will also look at progress in cooperation in progress as part of the Science and Technology Agreement that came into force at the end of 1999, and environmental, energy and telecommunications cooperation (a forum on the information society will be held in Beijing on 16/20 April 2002) along with enterprise policy (a new dialogue will be launched this year between enterprises). The EU wishes to extend competition in competition issues over the implementation of the European satellite navigation system Galileo and the market in transferable securities.
The summit is also to stress the progress made in EU/China cooperation with respect to illegal immigration and the trafficking of human beings, a sector that is on the Chinese list of priorities since the Dover tragedy in June 2000 when 58 illegal Chinese immigrants died of suffocation in a container. "For the past year, there have been many initiatives, and we have launched political dialogue and dialogue at the level of senior officials", stressed one European source. Discussions have made good progress, it is said at the Commission, concerning the identification of the populations concerned, the identification of procedures for allowing the repatriation of illegal immigrants, cooperation for fighting against forgery of documents, and the creation of an information network and contact points between administrations.