Brussels, 26/11/2007 (Agence Europe) - Before taking part in the annual EU/China Summit in Beijing on 28 November, Peter Mandelson went to China on Friday 23 November, on a trip that was by no means a courtesy visit. The increasing trade deficit of the EU and the under-evaluation of the yuan, failure to observe the rules of the WTO, of which the Asian giant has been a member since 2001, shortcomings in the fight against counterfeiting and piracy and product safety: Europe's grievances against China in the field of commerce are legion and the European Commissioner for Trade, who has up to now favoured the option of dialogue, is losing patience. He has therefore decided, having recently accused the Chinese authorities of being “deliberately obstructive” in the settlement of bilateral trade disputes, to raise the tone, at the risk of rubbing Beijing up the wrong way.
Taking part in the International Food Safety Forum on Monday 26 November, before meeting the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Wu Yi, Mr Mandelson called for China to make greater efforts to improve the quality of its products. “Restoring and then maintaining consumer trust and confidence in Chinese products must be China's priority if it wants to maintain the export growth rates of recent years”, he said, explaining that in 2006, almost half of the 1000 alerts given under the Community early warning system, RAPEX, which includes all dangerous consumer products with the exception of foodstuffs, pharmaceutical products and medical devices, concerned China. “Those numbers would rise by 50% in 2007”, he added. On foodstuffs, the Commissioner recommended that China, which accounted for 9% of notifications under the RASFF warning system in 2006, with emerging problems for honey, peanuts, unauthorised genetically modified rice and animal feed, step up its efforts in the fight against counterfeiting. “China will never properly tackle the issue of products safety without addressing the tidal wave of counterfeiting goods”, he stressed. Pointing out that eight out of every 10 counterfeit products seized on the borders of the Community come from China, Mr Mandelson also laid emphasis on the “huge risks” linked to fake medicines, and also fake spare parts for cars and aircraft. Although China points out that less than 1% of its exports to Europe may contain risks for health, the fact that Europe imports 500 million euros' worth of products from China every year proves that “even 1% is not acceptable”, he concluded.
Ms Wu's reaction to this warning was one of irritation. “We disagree with biased, incomplete reports and pure condemnation that are blind to the facts”, she responded, going on to notify Mr Mandelson of China's opposition to the trade barriers set in place against its exports due to reasons of food safety, and against the “politicisation of the issues”. Acknowledging the need for her country to step up its efforts, the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister called on the developed countries to help the developing countries to raise the level of their game in terms of standards, to improve their food production technology and to reinforce control systems for food safety.
Taking part, later on, in a seminar on fair trade, Mr Mandelson urged the Chinese authorities to adopt a tougher stance on violations of intellectual property rights (IPR) in China. Welcoming actions taken by Beijing to improve protection of IPR, the Commissioner nonetheless stressed that the persistent abuses against intellectual property was “hurting Chinese industry as well as European companies”. He then indicated that the EU may bring the dossier before the WTO. “The EU so far has held back on taking China to the WTO, but it is hard to see for how much longer if treatment is not improved”, he warned, stressing the fact that European manufacturers investing in China had lost a great deal of confidence. “We have accepted that IPR is indeed a complex issue, and China's commercial culture and legal system need time to absorb change. We have been constructive and we have been patient, but the return we have received on that patience has frankly been too low”, said Mr Mandelson, adding that he was hoping for progress on patent protection, films, music and royalty payments.
Last Friday, the Trade Commissioner redoubled appeals to China to open up its market more to European investors and exporters- accusing it of falling short in the fight against commercial distortion (dumping, hidden subsidies, restrictions on imports and investment, under-evaluation of the Chinese currency) and in limiting surcapacities (steel, for example), with the threat of the EU introducing new anti-dumping measures or bringing proceedings to the WTO. “Europe is becoming more open to China, but I can't sustain that unless China shows the same openness to us”, he warned in the columns of the Financial Times. Despite an increase of 20% in European exports to China in 2006, the trade deficit of the EU is set to increase this year (it already stood at 100.8 billion EUR in the first eight months of the year), having reached 130 billion last year. (E.H.)