Brussels, 30/10/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission's release of a Communication on the deepening of EU/China relations and a similar move by Beijing on 13 October, with its 'China's EU Policy' document, confirm the growing interest that the EU and the People's Republic have for each other. The content of the joint Communiqué published following the annual EU/China summit, on Thursday in Beijing further supports this. The parties, who agreed over the maturity and growing strategic nature of their partnership, undertook to widen and deepen their relations in view of establishing a general strategic partnership. This summit, the sixth of its kind, will have mainly concentrated on the strengthening of trade relations and an assessment of the international situation, thus leaving the issue of human rights somewhat aside.
After a meeting with Silvio Berlusconi, Romano Prodi and Javier Solana, President Hu Jingtao, noted that, according to the Xunhau press agency, 'China-EU relations have withstood the test of time and changes of international situations over the past 30 years' and is 'developing its relations with the EU out of strategic and long-term considerations.' 'A united and powerful Europe will not only serve the interest of the European people, but will also be conducive to the peace, stability and development of the entire world,' assured the President of the People's Republic of China.
With regards to current international issues, Chinese and Europeans reasserted their undertaking towards peace, security and sustainable development in the world, calling for a strengthening of the United Nation's role in this area. They also reaffirmed their support for the Middle East peace process and underlined the need for Iraq to rapidly regain its sovereignty. After an exchange of views on the situation in Burma, the two parties showed their support for the efforts aimed at promoting the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Korean peninsula, the EU supported, without reservations, the role played by China in this dossier. With regards to Taiwan, the European delegation recalled its attachment to a solution through dialogue in the framework of the 'one China policy' and the Chinese reiterated their attachment to the principals of a peaceful reunification and of 'one country, two systems.' The two parties also agreed over the need to act both bilaterally and multilaterally in the fight against terrorism.
The importance of the economic dossiers, and the dossier on Iraq and North Korea only left a little time for summit participants to undertake a significant exchange of views over the issue of human rights. In their final communiqué, Europeans and Chinese agree to welcome the results of their dialogue in this area, promising to continue on the basis of 'mutual respect' while reaffirming their commitment to achieving more significant and positive results on the ground. Answering Amnesty International, which had called upon the EU to put political pressure on Beijing to gain concrete improvements in China's human rights situation, the spokesperson for the Chinese Minister for |Foreign Affairs, noted that confrontation is not a solution. Adding, 'we believe that dialogue, undertaken with mutual respect, is good for the development of relation between China and the EU.'
In the economic domain, China intends to increase the volume of its trade with the EU to 200 billion dollars in 2013, against this year's forecast of 100 billion. This aims was announced during the meeting of the mixed EU/China committee that preceded the Summit. This meeting was the opportunity to agree on the creation of a trade dialogue mechanism, which notably should contribute towards finding solutions over certain delicate aspects of relations between the parties (implementation of the undertakings made by China within the WTO in the field of trade in goods and services, dumping and counterfeiting, etc; see yesterday's EUROPE, p. 13), all discussed during the summit. More concretely and as expected, this summit led to the signing of an agreement on the Sino-European dialogue on industrial policy - whose aim is to facilitate in the long-term the delivery of EU and Chinese industrial products -, an agreement on Chinese participation in the European satellite navigation programme (Galileo) as well as the so-called 'authorised destinations' agreement whose enforcement would simplify the (visa) procedures for Chinese tourist groups wishing to travel in Europe. These agreements have been qualified as important steps by the Chinese Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao, during his meeting with Silvio Berlusconi, Romano Prodi and Javier Solana. We can say that relations between the Chinese and Europeans are becoming more mature and more active, he notably said to Mr Berlusconi, who answered: economic cooperation between China and the EU has rapidly developed these recent years, but I think that we can do a lot more in this area.
Finally, this sixth EU/China summit also was the opportunity for both parties to agree over the need to enhance their cooperation, in terms of the fight against illegal immigration and the trafficking of human beings. The EU for its part expressed the desire to launch exploratory talks in view of an agreement covering readmission to China.