On 7 December 2021, Ambassador Zhang Ming, Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU, was invited to attend and delivered a keynote speech via video link at the Year-end Dialogue with Chinese and European Business Leaders co-hosted by the EU-China Business Association (EUCBA) and the China Chamber of Commerce to the European Union (CCCEU). The full text of the speech is as follows:
Your Excellency Chairman Haakma,
Chairman Xu Haifeng,
Dear Friends from Chinese and European Businesses Communities,
Good morning!
It gives me great pleasure to join you again for the Exclusive Year-end Dialogue with Chinese and European Business Leaders. In 2021, despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and weak global recovery, Chinese and European business communities have done a remarkable job. Thanks to your efforts, China-EU business cooperation has seen a strong growth against great difficulties facing the global economy. In the first ten months of this year, China-EU trade reached 670.4 billion US dollars, exceeding last year’s total trade volume, representing an increase of 30% year-on-year. The progress and resilience of China-EU economic and trade ties are a clear and effective response to voices calling for “decoupling” and pessimistic voices on China-EU cooperation.
The progress of economic and trade ties is supported by China and the EU further aligning their rules. At the end of last year, after seven years and 35 rounds of negotiations, the two sides finally concluded negotiations on a comprehensive, balanced and high-standard investment agreement. This is highly important in terms of market access and the level playing field for both companies. In March this year, the China-EU Agreement on Geographical Indications came into force. The agreement provides a unified and high-standard protection system that enables people on both sides to enjoy Yantai apples, Parma ham, Lixian yam and Bavarian beer and so on. Last month, China and the EU released the Common Ground Taxonomy on Sustainable Finance, which provides guidance for green investment and financing cooperation and helps tackle climate change.
The resilience of economic and trade ties is supported by China and the EU leveraging their role as two major markets. As the world’s largest market, China has 1.4 billion people who aspire for a better life. Among them are over 400 million middle-income consumers, and there is huge space for consumption growth of 1 billion people. Committed to further opening up, China has revised its negative list for foreign investment for four consecutive years, reducing the number of items on the list from 93 to 33. Not long ago, President Xi Jinping announced that China will open up its health and telecommunications sectors in an orderly manner. According to statistics, the profits and turnover of EU enterprises in China hit a new high in 2020, and 60% of them hope to further expand investment in China. China has become the world’s most important market for many companies. The prosperity and openness of the European market is also good for China’s economic development, attracting a number of Chinese companies to do business there. In a word, China and EU are deeply connected, offering each other development opportunities and market demand. Our cooperation will give a strong boost to global economic recovery.
In 2021, China-EU relations also experienced difficulties. In March, the EU imposed unilateral sanctions on China based on lies and disinformation, which hampered bilateral relations. The China-EU Investment Agreement after long and arduous negotiations has been put on hold by the European Parliament. I also noticed that in recent years, the EU has been strengthening and expanding its economic and trade toolbox, which has caused concerns among many business people about the future direction of the EU. According to a survey by the CCCEU, the overall rating of its member companies on the EU’s business environment fell for two consecutive years in 2021.
Many people recently asked me about the future trend of China-EU relations. I think it depends more on how the EU views China and China’s development. In March 2019, the EU started to describe China in three aspects. Since then, our relationship has been severely impacted and disrupted. China clearly opposes this description from the very beginning. Three years later, you can look back and see what it has brought to the EU itself, to China-EU relations and the world at large. China always believes that China and the EU are partners, not rivals. We are each other’s opportunities, not challenges. Cooperation is the right way and confrontation produces no winners. China is committed to mutual respect, seeking common ground while shelving differences and striving for common interests by making the pie bigger. As two major players, two markets and two civilizations in the world, China and the EU shoulder joint responsibilities for maintaining world peace and stability and promoting common development and prosperity. Our common interests far outweigh our differences. We have a thousand reasons to be partners, and not a single reason to be rivals.
It is heartening that some people in the EU have noticed the current state of China-EU relations. We have heard comments that the China-EU Investment Agreement has been artificially “overloaded” and that China and the EU should “re-engage” in trade. Not long ago, I read an article written by a friend of the European Parliament who said that economic nationalism and standard-setting isolationism are bad for all players in the international arena. The over 1 billion euros of daily trade volume between China and the EU fully demonstrates that our interests are interdependent and closely intertwined. With mature major-country relations, China and the EU have adopted an effective approach to managing differences over the past decades. The key is to maintain a correct perception of each other, adhere to dialogue, cooperation and mutual benefit, and jointly build a healthy, stable and future-oriented bilateral relationship.
In the past two years facing the COVID-19 pandemic, we have come to appreciate more than ever the significance of a community with a shared future for mankind and the importance of openness, cooperation, multilateralism, dialogue and consultation. We should “join hands” with each other, instead of “letting go” of each other’s hands. We should “tear down walls” and “build bridges”, not build walls and tear down bridges. China and the EU need to work together to uphold the core values and basic principles of the multilateral trading system, promote trade and investment liberalization and facilitation, improve global economic governance rules, and build an open world economy.
This year marks the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC), and the beginning of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan and the start of a new journey to comprehensively build a modern socialist country. Not long ago, the Communist Party of China held the sixth Plenary Session of its 19th Central Committee to review its century-long endeavor and sum up important historical experiences. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of China’s accession to the World Trade Organization. Through continued openness, China has promoted its development and brought opportunities to the world economy. Openness has become the defining feature of today’s China. As China enters a new era, it will remain committed to opening up at a higher level, sharing development opportunities with the rest of the world, and making economic globalization more open, inclusive, balanced and beneficial to all. We hope and welcome European companies to participate in China’s development, share in China’s development opportunities and achieve greater success by expanding their business in the Chinese market.
Dear friends,
How time flies! The year 2021 is drawing to a close. My mission in Brussels is also coming to an end. Over the past four years, I have had the opportunity to witness many historic events in China-EU relations. In the economic and trade field, I witnessed China becoming the EU’s largest trading partner, the conclusion of negotiations on an investment agreement, and the strong resilience and vitality of China-EU cooperation in the face of the pandemic. I had the opportunity to make friends from the business community, including those from EUCBA, CCCEU, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China and BUSINESS EUROPE. They talked to me about their wishes, plans, difficulties, suggestions, even criticisms and complaints. I tried my best as their friend to help them with their plans and difficulties, and translate their suggestions, even criticisms and complaints into policies and measures the central and local governments may take to further open up and improve the business environment. Of course, I also asked them to have patience and confidence. I used to work in the factory. I saw familiar workshops and busy workers in the Volvo plant in Bruges, but of course they have a much higher level of automation. Having worked as a farmer and felt at home when I visited farmers in Walloon, I perfectly understand how much they hope to sell their cheese, beef and grain to the distant Chinese market. In Zeebrugge, I watched Volvo car parts and vehicles being shipped to and from China via the China-Europe freight trains. At Bekaert headquarters, I was amazed by the innovation capacity of this century-old company and its commitment to cooperation with China and its inclusiveness. At the Belgian Microelectronics Research Centre (IMEC), I learned that they have one of the highest number of collaborative projects with Chinese clients. ASML, a well-known Dutch company, told me with regret that cooperation projects with China they were eager to complete had been artificially stopped. In the south of France, I was thrilled by the international nuclear fusion science project jointly launched by eight parties, including China and the EU. Such cooperation and collaborative spirit will help us build a cleaner and better world for mankind.
Of course, I also have a list of regrets. There is no end in sight regarding the pandemic. The China-EU Investment Agreement is frozen. The wish to visit the Peresac sea-crossing bridge in Croatia built by a Chinese company did not happen. The target of increasing the number of Chinese tourists to Europe is put on hold due to the pandemic.
Having said that, the fundamentals of China-EU economic and trade cooperation in which the two sides develop by complementing each other’s strengths will not change. The direction of China-EU economic and trade cooperation in which the two sides move ahead through healthy competition will also not change. I sincerely hope that China and the EU will seek common ground while shelving differences, expand consensus and work together to improve the well-being of our peoples and promote world prosperity and stability. I hope to join all of you to make my list of regrets much shorter, and eventually turn it into a list of hopes and deliverables. I wish that with the participation and support of EUCBA and CCCEU, China-EU economic and trade relations will continue to grow steadily.
I wish you all a safe, happy and peaceful Christmas and a happy New Year.
Thank you!