Fuente: © European Parliament
http://www.europarl.eu.int/

EU: MEPs and Chinese counterparts discuss trade, international finance and agriculture

/noticias.info/ Following on from Monday's opening session of the 26th EU-China Interparliamentary Meeting, MEPs and members of the Chinese National People's Congress turned their attention on Tuesday to economic and trade issues, product safety, climate change, financial markets and food supplies.

In the first part of the talks, on economic and trade relations, Evelyne Gebhardt (PES, DE), spoke of European concerns about the safety of products such as toys imported from China. Key issues were labelling and a ban on allergenic substances in toys. Jorgo Chatzimarkakis (ALDE, DE), was concerned about intellectual property rights (IPR) and counterfeiting, for example of cosmetics and medicines, as well as dumping, on which he said that of 35 dumping cases being investigated by the EU, 15 related to China. He stressed the need for China to obey WTO rules, adding "we can only be partners if we treat each other fairly and with respect". Dirk Sterckx (ALDE, BE), chair of the EP Delegation for relations with China, stressed that in Europe "public support for a market economy" depended partly on how these issues were resolved.

Chen Jiagui, of the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), replied that product safety and quality was growing in importance for China. Overall, product quality supervision was good and most substandard products from China were in fact illegally smuggled. On counterfeiting, China had taken a range of measures to protect IPR and was seeking international cooperation to help it do so more effectively. Dumping issues could be solved through negotiation but if necessary "China would be happy to involve the WTO". Zha Peixin, vice-chair of the NPC Foreign Affairs Committee, added that he hoped "the EU will soon recognise China as a fully-fledged market economy", just as 75 other countries had.

Climate change

The meeting then discussed climate change. European industry "is complaining that plans for tougher targets on greenhouse gas emissions will impose an unfair burden" on it if similar rules do not apply to non-EU countries, said Cornelis Visser (EPP-ED, NL). In reply, Zha Peixin said that China was abiding by its Bali commitments but that "differentiated joint responsibility" was a key principle in this matter: developing countries such as China must have different treatment as their emission levels are still relatively low. He also stressed that "while China's energy consumption is rising, its energy use is becoming more efficient". Above all, "China is willing to cooperate on climate change".

Global finance

Regarding world financial markets, Mr Visser voiced concern about two issues. Firstly, he believed "a further revaluation of the renminbi would be a good thing". Secondly, he argued that "the level of political involvement" in China's sovereign wealth fund (SWF) was not clear. While not criticising such funds, he stressed that transparency in their operations was crucial, a point backed up by Mr Chatzimarkakis.

Chen Jiagui replied that China was aiming for a managed, floating exchange rate but this could only be achieved gradually. As to the SWF, something had to be done with China's reserves of 1.5 trillion dollars and "the SWF is part of the solution". He stressed there was "no political involvement" in its management.

Food and agriculture

Turning to farm and food issues, EP spokesman Bogdan Golik (PES, PL), focused on problems such as barriers to trade in farm products (different labelling rules and health and safety regulations, the counterfeiting of European food products) and barriers to investment in China by European companies. Struan Stevenson (EPP-ED, UK), added concerns about food shortages, which he attributed to "rising meat consumption, climate change and the switch to biofuels". Moreover, he argued that the EU's strict internal health and hygiene rules did not apply to imports and that "a level playing field" was needed.

Zhang Xiaoshan, of the NPC Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee, told MEPs that as the production and incomes of China's farmers increased, China was "playing a constructive role in world markets" and, "since it joined the WTO it has been fulfilling its commitments" to come into line with WTO rules, for example by reducing tariffs. He contended that "biofuels must not be produced at the expense of food" and so should not be grown on arable land. Concluding, he said China wanted "a fair and equitable new order in agriculture".

Safety in coal mines

A final point raised at the meeting was the number of accidents in China's coal mines. Stephen Hughes (PES, UK) said many of the deaths were preventable and the EU had offered to help with a training programme on mine safety. However, China had yet to sign up officially to the programme, so he asked the Chinese delegates to raise the issue on their return to Beijing, which they undertook to do. notas_de_prensa_archivo