Seeking accord

By Fu Jing in Brussels | China Daily Africa | Updated: 2017-05-26 08:48

Premier to meet with EU leaders in bid to advance globalization, promote Belt and Road cooperation

Premier Li Keqiang is to hold a meeting with his European counterparts in Brussels on June 1 and 2. The aim is to send a joint message opposing protectionism and advocating globalization while deepening synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and Europe's development strategies.

As well as further explaining his country's market reform packages, intended to beef up openness, Li is expected to exchange views on investment and trade friction with the European Union and Germany, which in recent months have increased protection measures against Chinese investment and exports.

Ahead of Li's departure, Chinese Ambassador to the European Union Yang Yanyi and other policy insiders say they believe the summit, arranged at "a critical moment", will boost the bilateral relationship to a new high if both sides inject ample "sincerity and vision" into the strategic partnership, which has implications for 1.9 billion people.

"Both sides will explore how to develop relations on a healthy and stable track while promoting pragmatic cooperation on trade, investment and other areas," Yang says.

Li will visit Germany and Belgium during the visit. The trip comes after President Xi Jinping made two visits to Europe in January and April. China organized the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation on May 14 and 15 in Beijing, and an EU-US summit concluded at the European Union headquarters on May 25.

Li will be emphasizing China's stance on promoting cooperation, multilateralism, free trade and globalization while encouraging Europeans to deeply participate in the Belt and Road Initiative.

"Amid rising trends of anti-globalization and isolationism, Premier Li and European leaders will be voicing their support for free trade and multilateralism, to reform the global governance structure in an even fairer and more reasonable direction," Yang says.

She says both sides will explore means of dealing with friction on trade and economic issues.

BRI and China-EU relations

China has described the Belt and Road Initiative as a proposal for achieving common peace and prosperity, the overarching umbrella of its foreign diplomacy, and says it will further expand cooperation with the EU in this regard.

Most of the EU's member states expressed enthusiasm for becoming part of the Belt and Road Initiative at the Beijing forum. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras says the initiative highlights a vision of connectivity, cooperation and dialogue across Europe and Asia, as well as other parts of the world.

With China's shipping giant COSCO saving his country's lifeline port Piraeus from the depths of a debt crisis, Tsipras says this initiative is compatible with Greece's regional economic goals, while its dynamic, comprehensive, strategic partnership with China sets a solid basis for working in this direction.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was one of the European leaders at the Beijing forum. He says the old globalization model is obsolete and "the East has caught up with the West".

Seeking accord

He sees the Belt and Road Initiative as "another direction of movement, which is specifically built on mutual acceptance." Orban describes the modernization of the 350-km Budapest-Belgrade railway line as a "most spectacular" agreement, signed between China, Serbia and his country.

In participating in the initiative, the two countries have not only benefited from infrastructural improvement, but also from being connected with the global supply chain.

The United Kingdom is still a full EU member, although Brexit talks will be launched soon. It also enthusiastically supports the initiative. Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond says that, lying at the western end of the Belt and Road, his country is a natural partner in this endeavor and Britain has for centuries been one of the strongest advocates for an open global trading system.

He also says Britain can be a "natural partner" in delivering infrastructure for Belt and Road related countries by supporting the needed financing and planning.

The UK has been a pioneer in this regard. When China initiated the launch of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in early 2015, the UK was the first Western country to respond.

Now, with the latest member Greece, roughly half of the countries in Europe have joined the new multilateral financial institution. Even the European Investment Bank recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the AIIB, which has gathered 77 members since its launch at the beginning of 2016.

In spite of the support of individual member states and businesses, the EU has not expressed collective enthusiasm. When Jyrki Katainen, vice-president of the European Commission, addressed the Beijing forum, he said China is at one end of the Belt and Road and Europe is at the other. But he is still hesitant, saying, "Done the right way, more investment in cross-border links could unleash huge growth potential with benefits for us all."

Katainen has repeated the principles of openness, transparency and sustainability, which China emphasized in the initiative vision paper published in early 2015.

Experts and China observers have been urging the EU to get on the same page as its members.

"The views of EU member states and businesses will be central to implementing the Belt and Road, and the success of the project will be based on building common commercial interests more than anything else," says Duncan Freeman, research fellow of the EU-China Research Center of College of Europe.

He adds that the Beijing forum has already demonstrated that the idea of the Belt and Road has attained a significant level of global influence, to which the EU should pay ample attention.

He also says the documents issued at the forum provide a greater degree of detail about how the Belt and Road will be implemented, and how it will affect the relations between China and other partners to the initiative.

"A common understanding between Europe and China of the Belt and Road will be the key to successfully implementing the strategy as a partnership," Freeman says.

Romano Prodi, former EU president and former Italian prime minister, has noticed "competition among European countries" in exploring synergies with the Belt and Road Initiative.

But he laments the lack of coordination at the European level.

Calling it a century long project that could offer better livelihoods for half of humanity, Prodi says, "We have to use all the patience that we need for political cooperation."

Despite that, Chinese Ambassador Yang has shown her satisfaction with the development synergies between China and Europe.

"It is fair to say that China and Europe share much in common in pursuing shared growth, development and connectivity, including through the Belt and Road Initiative, and have a proud record so far," she says.

When President Xi visited the EU headquarters in early 2014, both sides had started discussing the issue. When Premier Li held a summit with his European counterparts in Brussels in 2015, both sides agreed to support synergies between the Belt and Road Initiative and the 315 billion euro ($354.4 billion; ￡273.08 billion) European Investment Plan.

At the member country level, China and some European nations have signed intergovernmental cooperation documents and launched Belt and Road working group mechanisms to jointly advance the initiative.

Bilaterally, China has launched rail freight services with some European countries, including the first direct rail link between China and Britain, which went into operation early this year.

"Bilateral or trilateral cooperation in such areas as railway, ports, airports, power, transportation and logistics between China and European countries has also gathered momentum," Yang says.

Looking ahead, she says China and the EU should stay committed to free trade and economic openness - to a rules-based, transparent and fair international trading regime and order.

She also says time will prove wrong and unwarranted the notion that this project is designed to access new markets for China and presents a challenge - or even a threat - to the future of Europe.

"Such views neglect the many facets of the initiative and overlook the fresh perspectives it will bring to European integration," Yang says.

In addition to the Belt and Road Initiative, the leaders of both sides are going to inject new dynamics into ongoing talks on an investment pact to allow further access to each other's markets.

Chi Fulin, president of the China Institute of Reform and Development, has urged both sides to put free trade and investment in one shot to boost the bilateral economic relationship to a new level.

"The wide acceptance and recognition of the Belt and Road Initiative has offered a new direction and shape for the China-EU relationship, and both sides should grasp this opportunity to start free trade talks," says Chi.

He adds that his institute and European partners, such as the think tank Friends of Europe, will be discussing the proposal in detail at a forum at the end of June.

EU-China frictions

China still says it is an obligation for the EU to consider it a market economy by fulfilling the commitment it made when China joined the World Trade Organization more than 15 years ago. China is expected to put pressure on the EU in this regard at the pending summit.

Recently, when Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Germany to prepare for Li's visit to the country, he raised the issue with Chancellor Angela Merkel, hoping Germany could play a constructive role in removing "the barrier" hampering the China-EU relationship.

Within the EU, Germany is China's biggest economic partner, and both countries are manufacturing and export giants. Germany will be hosting the G20 summit in July, after China's hosting of the Hangzhou summit in September last year.

Shi Mingde, China's ambassador to Germany, has also hinted that both sides will be discussing how to facilitate two-way investment following Germany's recent action in blocking certain Chinese investment in the country.

Citing numbers, Shi says Germany's investment in China already amounts to $70 billion, while China's total in Germany has not surpassed $8 billion, a proportion of about 12 percent.

He has repeated this message on various occasions ahead of Premier Li's arrival, saying China's investment in Germany has only just started.

"Gradually, China has opened its door," says Shi, a veteran Chinese diplomat. "And Germany, a mature market economy, has already opened its door and we hope it will not be closed."

fujing@chinadaily.com.cn