Brussels, 13/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - China wants the European Union to be its leading trade and investment partner in the world, but there must be scrupulous respect of the self-proclaimed one-China principle. This was revealed in a policy paper published on Monday with a view to the bilateral summit scheduled for 30 October in Beijing. The Union Council also welcomed the fact that China produced its first-ever policy paper on its relations with the EU and "noted with appreciation China's commitment to setting the stage for the six-party talks on North Korea's nuclear weapons programme and in bringing the process forward". "The role that China thus has assumed illustrates how its perception of the world is changing as it gets further integrated into the global community", the EU Council stressed on Monday in Luxembourg in a declaration adopted without debate. The Council "encouraged Chinese engagement in resolving further regional issues, in particular the current political situation in Burma/Myanmar". (EUROPE will come back to this in more detail).
By way of a preamble to this document, where politics and economy are mixed in some ten pages, the Hu government stresses that China hopes to become a well-off society in an all round way and aspires to a favourable international climate in which it plans to pursue its pacific foreign policy in full independence and close collaboration with other countries that work toward the establishment of a new international political and economic order founded on the five principles of peaceful coexistence, namely mutual respect of territorial sovereignty, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs and the equity of advantages and peaceful coexistence. In order to improve cooperation in all fields and develop sustainable and stable relations with the Union, which has become a strong community, the most integrated in the world, and whose role is increasingly important not only in regional but also international affairs, Beijing recommends:
1. in the political field: - high level close and regular contacts, giving substance to the content of annual summits between China and the EU (concrete results, better bilateral coordination), prompt implementation of the biolateral agreement on political dialogue; deepened relations with the EU Member States, including the new accession countries, with a view to guaranteeing the stability and continuity of the overall relationship between China and the EU; scrupulous respect of the one-China principle, the "political cornerstone underpinning China-EU relations", which means it must "prohibit any visit by any Taiwan political figures to the EU or its member countries under whatever name or pretext" and abstain from any contact or exchange "of an official or governmental" kind with the authorities of this country or support its accession or participation in any international organisation open to the sovereign States or sell it arms, equipment, goods, material or technologies that may be used for military ends; - encourage Hong Kong and Macao's cooperation with the EU, in accordance with the principle of "one country, two systems" and visits by various European personalities to Tibet (but they are requested not to have contacts with the "Tibetan government in exile" or "provide facilities to the separatist activities of the Dalai clique"; - and pursue dialogue on human rights, where there is both "consensus and disagreement" between China and the EU.
2. at the economic level: - updating of the bilateral economic and commercial cooperation agreement when the time is right; settling the problem of irrational restrictions and technical barriers to trade, making more flexible the restrictions on high tech exports and making use of the enormous potential of technological and commercial cooperation in line with the WTO rules, and immediately granting China market economy status in the context of European trade protection procedure and reducing and abolishing anti-dumping measures and other discriminatory and practical measures against China; - cautious application of the specific transitional safeguard mechanism (TPSSM) with compensation for China for any economic and trading losses due to Union enlargement; - investment in China-EU coordination in the context of WTO talks, working toward making them a success; - strengthened dialogue on investment, facilitated creation of institutions intended to promote bilateral investment and guidance with a view to developing trade of processed products in particular; - continued European development aid which is particularly welcome when it aims to protect the environment, poverty reduction, public health, hygiene and education and when there is the chance of gain by becoming more active in the field of human resources (training of staff and strengthened Chinese ability to take part in multilateral regimes); - strengthened cooperation in the field of quality surveillance, inspections and quarantine, the establishment of consultation mechanisms and rapid treatment of problems that could affect market access (the same being true for customs cooperation where it will be necessary to envisage conclusion of a EU-China agreement "in due course". In the other fields, China basically recommends: - financial co-operation: launch a high-level dialogue mechanism, extending exchanges between the respective central banks and extending co-operation for the prevention and management of financial crises, and also to "positively" resolve the problem of access of Chinese financial institutions to the European market and the establishment of European insurance companies in China; - agriculture: intensify co-operation, exchanges and research; - environment: create a dialogue mechanism and encourage European business in the field to come into its territory; - information technology: extend exchanges on intellectual property rights and technical standards; - energy: extend co-operation (especially renewable energy and energy-saving); - transport: bring in a mechanism for regular meetings on maritime transport, and extend exchanges on civil aviation.
3. education, science and technology, culture, health: to promote co-operation in these fields and actively support exchanges and development of human resources in China. Beijing hopes for greater co-operation and exchanges between the respective journalistic circles.
4. legal, social and administrative aspects: - to conclude an agreement on social security and reinforce co-operation on the employment of illegal immigrants and the protection of the rights and interests of migrant workers; - extend the scope of legal co-operation between the respective police agencies and strengthen co-operation on public administration and on the military aspects of co-operation (we must "keep exchanges at a high level, develop and improve, step by step, the strategic consultation mechanism, and the exchange of experts"). Lastly, "the EU must lift its embargo on the sales of arms to Chine in order to remove obstacles to stronger bilateral co-operation in the field of defence" (industry and technology).