China and Germany sign 11 pacts
Merkel agrees to help gain support from EU nations on trade protocol
China and Germany signed a basket of deals on Thursday, many on crucial areas like automatic driving and aviation.
Premier Li Keqiang and German Chancellor Angela Merkel witnessed the signing ceremony after their meeting on Thursday.
Among the 11 deals and cooperation documents signed was a memorandum of understanding between Beijing Automotive Group and Daimler AG on increasing investment and strengthening strategic cooperation in new energy vehicles.
Baidu and Bosch signed an agreement for strategic cooperation on autonomous driving technology.
The National Reform and Development Commission signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus on strengthening comprehensive cooperation.
“We will continue to work hard together to promote the development of electric vehicles and to create a favorable environment for the existing auto market,” Li said at a news conference after the signing ceremony.
He also said “dozens of agreements” were signed during the visit, covering areas such as trade and openness.
Merkel said she discussed Article 15 of the protocol on China’s accession to the World Trade Organization with Li.
We will continue to work hard together to promote the development of electric vehicles and to create a favorable environment for the existing auto market.” Premier Li Keqiang
Under Article 15, WTO members were to end after Dec 11, 2016, the organization’s surrogate country approach regarding antidumping investigations of China. The date was exactly 15 years after China’s admission to the WTO.
Under the surrogate country approach, WTO members use costs of production in a third country to calculate the value of products from countries on its “non-market economy” list, which includes China.
Germany believes the European Union should fulfill the responsibilities of the protocol, and it will make efforts to find a solution that is in line with the WTO rules, is fair to all nations and does not dis- criminate against China, Merkel said.
Li appreciated Germany’s stance on the issue, saying that moving forward, not stepping back, is the way toward progress.
Li and Merkel also said they agreed to speed up the process of signing an investment treaty, which will assist with discussions on a free trade agreement.
Gu Junli, a German studies expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said Germany will “gradually take a lead- ing role in pushing the EU to fulfill its promise regarding Article 15”.
German Ambassador to China Michael Clauss told China Daily, “The EU and China both support rules-based global free trade with a strong WTO as its core, and they should demonstrate this commitment by rapidly negotiating a China-EU investment treaty and possibly going even further — toward a China-EU free trade agreement,” he said.
“There is a growing overlap of common interests, in the G20 framework and beyond, whether it’s promoting free trade, combating climate change, or supporting a strong EU, UN and WTO,” Clauss said.
Li and Merkel held the annual prime ministers’ meeting between the two governments on Wednesday after Li’s arrival in the German capital.
Li called on Germany to help China’s large passenger plane, the C919, earn an airworthiness certificate from the EU.
The twin-engine C919 made its maiden flight on May 5 in Shanghai with five crew members onboard but no passengers. The success makes China the fourth large passenger jet producer after the United States, Western Europe and Russia.
With the world facing multiple uncertainties and new challenges, closer and stronger ties between China and European countries cater not only to their mutual interests but also benefit the world at large. Premier Li Keqiang’s ongoing visit to Germany and Belgium, though planned earlier, came just days after US President Donald Trump’s first upsetting-of-the-apple-cart visit to Europe, which prompted German Chancellor Angela Merkel to say that Euope can no longer fully rely on others.
In contrast, during their meeting in Berlin on Wednesday, Li and Merkel time and again emphasized the importance of bilateral ties and vowed to accelerate the synergy of their countries’ respective economic strategies.
Such determination to continue to nourish the tree of friendship and enrich and expand pragmatic, reciprocal cooperation will not only contribute to their respective development needs but also help to shore up global confidence that it is not just every country for itself, as Trump keeps implying.
Thanks to their mutual efforts in deepening political trust and expanding all-round cooperation, Sino-German ties have become the most profound and the most reliable nation-to-nation ties among China’s relations with European countries.
And as the world’s two most predictable and most stable forces, China and Germany are acting as confidence boosters and rallying others to the causes of global economic development and stability.
Sharing broad common interests and similar stances on important regional and international issues, the two are increasingly looked to for leadership in shoring up the open economy, free trade and investment. And in an increasingly interconnected and interdependent world, it is a natural choice for China and the EU to work together to deepen mutual trust, fend off protectionism and unlock the development potential of their relations.
Li is scheduled to meet EU leaders in Brussels on Friday, and the two sides are expected to discuss ways to maintain the good momentum that has been achieved in bilateral cooperation in traditional economic and trade fields while also vigorously promoting greater cooperation in new areas such as infrastructure, finance and the digital economy.
And as the United States is poised to withdraw from the Paris accord on climate change, which will send the message that it’s putting its own interests first and the devil take the hindmost, Li and the EU leaders are expected to issue a joint declaration on combating climate change on Friday, consolidating the consensus of the rest of the international community that common interests take precedence and outweigh any differences.