China Daily Global Edition (USA)
China, Germany ink pacts on new energy, aviation
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 training market,” clinicsLi said enhancedat a news conferenceby virtual realityafter the and signingaugmented ceremony. reality technologies, accordingHe also saidto “dozens Phoenix of U-Art, agreements” Messi’s were Chinese signed partner. during the visit, “The covering project areaswill reshapesuch as trade theway and fans openness.can connect with Messi Merkel and said will she enable discussedsoccer Article culture 15 to takeof the deeper protocol root onin China’sChina by accession combiningto the Messi’s World Trade career Organization experience, withhis Li. training Under program Article and15, WTO entertainment,” members were said to Liu end Wei, after CEODec 11,of 2016, Phoenix the U-Art. organization’s surrogate Messi country said approachhe expects regardingthe park anti-dumpingwill help ignite investigationsgreater passionof China.for the The sport date among was exactly Chinese 15 youth years by after providing China’s admissionthem with to opportunitiesthe WTO. to
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 discriminate 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 leading role in pushing the EU to fulfill its promise on 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.