China-EU relationship is at a crossroads, top official says in Beijing
It is a make-or-break moment for China’s relationship with the European Union, as the bloc’s trade chief asks for more openness and fairness from Beijing.
“We stand at a crossroads. We can choose a path towards mutually beneficial relations. One which is based on open, fair trade and investment, and working hand in hand on the great challenges of our time,” Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice president of the European Commission, said at Tsinghua University in Beijing on Monday.
“Or we can choose a path that slowly moves us apart. Where the shared benefits we enjoyed in recent decades weaken, and fade. And, as a result, where our people and economies face reduced opportunities,” he added.
This is some of the sharpest wording to come from European officials and follows data that showed the EU logging a trade deficit of almost 400 billion euros with China in 2022.
“Last year, the EU registered record bilateral trade with China of 865 billion euros ($921 billion). But this is very unbalanced, because the EU has a trade deficit of almost 400 billion euros,” Dombrovskis said Saturday before an audience in Shanghai, where he began his four-day trip to China late last week.
