“For success in Paris, however, all players – including China and the EU – need to up their game”, Li Shuo, climate analyst for Greenpeace China, said.
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China likes to under-promise and over-deliver, Fay said.
Addressing the opening ceremony of a European Union (EU)-China business summit, the visiting Chinese premier said his country is willing to interface with the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), a 315 billion-euro investment plan initiated by President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker for resuscitating Europe’s economy and in particular building large infrastructure.
“China has ample foreign exchange reserves”, he added, also suggesting the creation of an additional joint EU-China investment fund. The EU-China IP Dialogue Mechanism was further reinforced with the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding by Commissioner for Trade, Cecilia Malmström and the Chinese Minister of Commerce, Gao Hucheng.
The two agreed to combine China’s competitiveness in equipment manufacturing and the Belgian advantage in science and technology to develop the African market, a step closer to Li’s ambition to tap overseas demand and fuel the domestic economy through cooperation of global industrial capacity.
Li noted his country is a major customer and supplier for the 28-nation EU, and a long-term holder of eurobonds. EU politicians have warned that if Greeks vote down the bailout (as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has urged, calling it “blackmail”) they are effectively voting to leave the eurozone – posing a threat to the coherency of the EU as a whole. In 2013, Paris ran a 26 billion euro deficit with the Asian giant.
“EU-China (is) 40 years old and (has) lots of potential ahead”, European Parliament President Martin Schulz wrote on Twitter after meeting with Li yesterday morning. The EU is China’s largest trading partner, with bilateral trade between the two sides worth over $600 billion in 2014. Last year, China signalled that it would buy bonds when Greece issues debt again.
In a joint statement, the EU and China pledged to work toward a “legally binding agreement” in Paris that would apply to all countries. He said China is in favor of a united and prosperous EU, as well as a strong euro.
French authorities will also raise prickly human rights issues with their guest, by expressing “concerns” over new legislation being drawn up in Beijing such as a law governing NGOs, an anti-terrorist law and a law on national security, said a diplomatic source.
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China said on Thursday it hoped that talks to avert a debt default in Greece would succeed in bringing an end to the crisis. “In this regard, China is breaking new ground and starting to show the leadership that is so vital to global efforts to fight climate change”.
