Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (center), Donald Tusk (left), President of the European Council, and Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, meet in Brussels for the 21st China-EU Summit on Tuesday. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]
China and the European Union reaffirmed their shared commitment to further cementing their partnership and safeguarding free trade and multilateralism in a joint statement released on Tuesday at the conclusion of the China-EU Summit in Brussels, which Chinese Premier Li Keqiang attended.
As two stabilizing forces in the world, their renewed commitment to uphold multilateralism and the fundamental norms governing international relations, and shared resolve to work together for improved global governance will be widely welcomed.
In a Pavlovian response to the meeting, Washington showed why that is the case, with a threat to impose tariffs on billions of EU imports, ostensibly because of subsidies to Airbus.
While Boeing has flown into trouble with its 737 MAX — for which it has received zero orders since all the operational planes were grounded for safety reasons — and will welcome such government pressure on its rival, the timing of the threat has raised eyebrows.
Such moves have become a hallmark of the current US administration, which like Goldilocks wants everything just right and is willing to eat everyone else's meal so long as it gets what it wants.
China has always advocated for a win-win situation in its trade relations with other countries, and staunchly opposes a winner-take-all approach when handling disputes, a position that the European Union has also taken.
Likewise, they stressed they want to work together to uphold peace and stability and address global challenges. Thus they reaffirmed their commitment to the Iran nuclear deal, a key element of the global nonproliferation architecture, and the implementation of the Paris Agreement on climate change, both of which the United States has withdrawn from, believing they do not serve its interests, even though that was never their exclusive purpose.
And unlike the US which it seems does not want to see any tangible outcome in the negotiations between China and the ASEAN countries on a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea, the EU welcomes the talks and hopes they will produce an effective conclusion.
By affirming that they will pursue policies that support an open, balanced, and inclusive global economy and multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization at its core and better global governance under the United Nations framework, the joint statement showed that China and the EU have a fruitful partnership and recognize their responsibility to lead by example and oppose the damaging tendencies of unilateralism and protectionism.
That stance may not find favor in the US capital, but in most other places around the world it will.
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