Brussels, 13/11/2006 (Agence Europe) - On Saturday, at the end of an almost one-week visit to China during which he defended the EU's new offensive trade strategy with regard to China (see EUROPE 9293 and 9301), Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said he was determined to work with Beijing to remove the “gaps” in China's implementation of its commitments made when it joined the WTO in 2001. “We are satisfied China is implementing the bulk of its WTO accession commitments, but there are gaps. For example on access to certain service markets,” he said after meeting Chinese Deputy Prime Minister and former Trade Minister Wu Yi. Mr Mandelson specifically mentioned the banking sector, financial services, telecoms, express delivery, the building sector and intellectual property rights. He said that these issues “are best tackled by negotiation and talks”.
Mr Mandelson and Ms Wu agreed to begin negotiations in January on a new partnership and cooperation agreement (PCA), to replace the 1985 trade and economic cooperation agreement. Mr Mandelson said this agreement would not be a “full-blown trade agreement because that would involve extensive tariff reductions that would be difficult for both sides”. However, “the terms of reference for the negotiations will reinforce present reciprocal agreements … where trade conditions are improving, but suffer from extensive government restrictions in China,” he said in a press release.
Ms Wu assured her guest that Beijing would continue its efforts to fully respect its WTO commitments and its market reform. “China is doing what it is obliged to do. We will maintain this and reform will continue,” added Mr Mandelson in his press release. “From my discussions with Wu Yi, I think China will be ready to open and liberalise further in some key areas, as long as the balance of reform is realistic for China's stage of development,” he said in an interview with AFP.
Mr Mandelson's visit to China, then, came to an end in a much more relaxed atmosphere than it started. Last Tuesday, Chinese Trade Minister Bo Xilai criticised the aggressiveness of the EU's new trade strategy towards China, particularly with regard to anti-dumping measures against Chinese shoes and the EU's referral of China to the WTO over motor car spare parts, but, at the end of the week, Ms Wu was much more conciliatory. “The EU is China's largest trading partner and biggest source of high technology, and China welcomes more EU imports,” she said during the 21st joint EU committee meeting on the economy and trade, going on, “trade issues or disputes between both sides must be resolved through negotiation and consultation”. There was agreement between the European and Chinese sides on several points: the need to resolve trade friction by consultation, the creation of an Internet site on EU-Chinese economic cooperation, the enhancement of cooperation between SMEs, setting up formal dialogue on the trade in services and an informal dialogue on steel and iron trade. (eh)