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Last Updated: Nov 2nd, 2009 - 17:32:57 |
EUOBSERVER / BEIJING – Chinese students at the University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in Beijing put European trade commissioner Catherine Ashton through her paces on Wednesday (9 September), in a sign that a new generation of tough negotiators is waiting in the sidelines.
Ms Ashton is currently in China as a follow-up to the High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue (HED) discussions held in Brussels in May, a regular forum for EU-China trade meetings that was set up in 2007 and is co-chaired by Ms Ashton and Chinese Vice-Premier Wang Qishan.
The students clapped politely throughout Ms Ashton's speech - peppered with the careful diplomatic language characteristic of dealings between the two sides - but got straight to the point in a questions and answers session afterwards.
"Why has the EU given market economy status to Russia but not China, yet the Chinese economy is clearly more open?" asked one post-graduate student in international relations to loud applause.
Market economy status is a technical label that, once awarded, would limit the EU's ability to use anti-dumping measures against China in trade disputes.
"You have made a very good representation of the feeling in the room," acknowledged the commissioner, adding: "We are not trying to hold this [status] up … but we can't do it until we are ready."
Independently on Wednesday, Ms Ashton's predecessor in the commission's trade portfolio, current UK business secretary Peter Mandelson who is also in Beijing, called on the commission to speed up the process and warned member states not to hold it up for political reasons.
The commission says that so far China meets one of the five technical criteria to qualify as a market economy.
Building confidence
EU anti-dumping measures imposed on imports from China have been a growing cause of tension between the two sides since the economic crisis broke out last year.
Ms Ashton said such disputes were "an accepted part of advanced trade relations, used to combat unfair trade," but that they highlighted the need to continue to build stronger relationships.
"We need to communicate – to speak frankly – to exchange ideas and to recognise there have been and will be some difficult moments as our relationship matures," she said, adding that the anti-dumping duties currently affect less than 1 percent of China's exports to the EU.
"Confidence is vital because I firmly believe that the future of international trade lies in relationships rather than in the mathematical formulae used to crunch tariffs in the past," she continued.
IPR
While Chinese officials complain about the anti-dumping measures, a primary EU concern is the lack of protection for intellectual property rights in China, especially patents, which can harm European companies doing business there.
As part of her visit, Ms Ashton also spoke at the EU-funded China IPR / SME Helpdesk, which was set up a year ago to aid European companies doing business in China.
"In a global economy, small and medium-sized enterprises [SMEs] are among the most likely victims of property theft. The European Commission is committed to address the needs of SMEs with regard to the infringement of their intellectual property rights," said Ms Ashton.
She pointed out that concern over IPR was a common deterrent for EU businesses looking to invest in China, and therefore also in China's interest to rectify.
As part of the strategy to improve IPR, the commission is currently working with Chinese custom officials in an attempt to clampdown on illegally produced goods.
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