the presidents of The european institutions and the chinese leaders spoke during a video conference Monday.
the Europeans and Chinese have had on Monday a “candid explanation” on their differences over Hong Kong and their business relationships, at a summit meeting in video-conference. The presidents of the european institutions have expressed to president Xi Jinping and Prime minister Li Keqiang their “serious concern” for the ex-british colony, where Beijing is planning to impose a law on national security, which raises fears of a resumption in hand of the autonomous region after the demonstrations of last year.
on Tuesday, Beijing has blasted those remarks. “The national security law to Hong Kong is an internal affair of China. We are opposed to any foreign interference in this matter,” responded the head of european affairs at the ministry of foreign Affairs of china, Wang Lutong. The latter was also called”charges baseless” the remarks of Brussels referring to the “deterioration of the situation of Human rights in China.
The EU is careful about the rights of man
In a statement, the EU said to have raised specifically the “arbitrary detention” of the Swedish publisher Gui Minhai, that Beijing considers to be chinese nationals, and two Canadians, Michael Kovrig and Michael Spavor, arrested a few days after the arrest in Canada of a leader of the chinese giant telecom Huawei. The Europeans have also expressed their discontent with campaigns of disinformation and cyber-attacks conducted from China. They have finally expressed their disappointment at the lack of progress in the trade negotiations.
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The talks with the Prime minister and with president Xi lasted six hours. The summit concluded without a joint declaration and each statement from his side. “It is essential to have a dialogue with China in order to defend our values, but we have points of disagreement on key issues”, explained the president of the european Council, Charles Michel, during a press conference. “China is a trading partner, an economic competitor and a rival to the systemic, for its part, recalled the president of the european Commission Ursula von der Leyen. “All of this demonstrates that our relationship is not easy,” she acknowledged.
Europe and china hope to sign before the end of 2020 a negotiated agreement for a long time on the protection of investments. However, the expectations of Europeans were disappointed. “We need more ambition on the part of China to conclude such an agreement by the end of the year,” has launched Ursula von der Leyen. “We expect the chinese authorities commitments on State-owned enterprises and transparency on aid and forced technology transfer”, she explained. “Otherwise, we are determined to play another card, that of the defence of our interests,” warned on Monday, a senior european official.
“Europe will not be the battlefield of the United States and China”
The Chinese are concerned by the new european legislation on foreign investment and the taking away of the EU in regard to them. “China opens resolutely, and is committed to creating an international trading environment, market-oriented, based on the law for international companies”, said the Prime minister Li Keqiang, in a report on the summit by the public television CCTV. “We hope that the EU will also continue opening its markets for trade and investment, and ease its restrictions on exports to China”, he added.
Engaged in a trade dispute and policy with the United States, Beijing seeks support. Washington has warned the Europeans before the summit: “The chinese communist Party wants to force you to choose” between the United States and China, said the us secretary of State Mike Pompeo. But the Europeans refuse to get caught up in the game of tensions between the two powers. “Europe will not be the battlefield of the United States and China,” said Sunday the european commissioner for Industry Thierry Breton.
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China is an important partner for the EU. Trade in goods accounted for € 1.5 billion per day in 2019, according to data from the Commission. China is willing to maintain close communication with the two presidents (of the european institutions) to advance a series of policy agendas major and push the sino-european relations to a new level, has assured president Xi, as quoted by the new China news agency.
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The report of an extraordinary summit with president Xi in September in Leipzig, German chancellor Angela Merkel with all his counterparts of the EU grants a little extra time to the negotiators. Ursula von der Leyen said he hoped that the condprovisions would be met to conclude that “before the end of the year” an agreement on protection of investments. “If this is not possible, this would be regrettable”, she concluded.
