EU chamber has ‘wrong logic’ in complaining report
An EU lobby’s accusation that China’s reform slowness has cost EU firms a fortune has incorrect logic and is biased, Chinese experts pointed out on Tuesday.
The nation’s reform and opening-up had achieved tremendous development in the past 40 years, and EU businesses in China have fully benefited as a result, said Yao Ling, deputy director with the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation.
In its primary annual publication, European Business in China Position Paper 2018/2019, issued on Tuesday in Beijing, the EU Chamber of Commerce in China (European Chamber) acknowledged the areas of progress that have been seen throughout the past year, but it claimed that China’s “reform deficit” is the root cause of the US-China trade war, which has manifested itself in tensions in the global economic system.
Mats Harborn, president of the EU group, said that European companies have suffered from China’s “reform deficit,” and are also affected by the collateral damage from the US-China trade war. “The European Chamber believes that tariffs are not an appropriate tool for resolving complex issues.”
“It is not fair and objective to blame this on China,” said Yao. “Maybe the European Chamber’s statement was written from the perspective of developed-country companies, which are facing rising competition and losing advantages in China.
Bai Ming, a trade expert, pointed out EU companies received massive favorable policies from the Chinese government during the past four decades.
“Now as such policies are fading to give way for a fairer environment, complaints arose,” Bai said.
“The chamber should maintain a multilateral trade regime with China, instead of adopting double standards and an appeasement policy on trade war issues,” Yao told the Global Times.
“They knew clearly that the US tariffs are unilateral moves breaching WTO rules seriously.
“Reform and opening-up is China’s basic national policy, which has been unswervingly implemented. It has made China the world’s second-largest economy and largest merchandise-trading state,” Yao noted.
China’s reform and openingup must be carried out according to its own national conditions and pace of development, and it is not stagnant. It has achieved tremendous development in the past 40 years, and EU businesses in China have fully benefited from it, the experts noted.
China and the EU are vital economic and trade partners that have common interests in promoting trade and investment liberalization and facilitation and the development of the multilateral trading system. Faced with the threats of unilateralism and protectionism, China and the EU should work more closely together, which is in the interests of both sides and the world, Yao noted.