Global Issues
CHINA-EU: Summit Redefines Diplomatic Boundaries
The global economic crisis has helped China and the European Union mend their recent rift over Tibet and human rights, but the two sides remain distrustful of each other’s intentions. Beijing complains that the EU’s crowded agenda makes it lose sight of the bigger picture in dealing with China. Brussels for its part, believes China is exploiting the EU’s divisions and treating the 27-state bloc with ‘diplomatic contempt’ on a range of issues from trade to the Dalai Lama.
A meeting between the exiled spiritual Tibetan leader and French President Nicolas Sarkozy last fall - when France held the EU’s rotating presidency - angered Beijing and led to the cancelation of the EU-China summit in December.
The summit finally took place this week after Beijing warned the European bloc not to interfere in its internal affairs and emphasised the importance of China’s economy in the world’s recovery from the worst economic downturn in nearly 80 years.
'It is impossible for a couple of countries or group of big powers to resolve all global issues,' Premier Wen Jiabao said at the summit hosted by the Czech EU Presidency at Prague Castle.
'We both recognise that it is important for us to work together to ride out the storm and make our contribution to an early world economic recovery.' He also said the two sides must have 'mutual respect' and 'should not interfere in each other’s internal affairs.'
The summit produced pledges for increased economic cooperation and agreements to boost trade. Beijing announced it would be sending another purchasing mission to Europe - following in the footsteps of a delegation that visited the EU a few months ago and signed 15 billion dollars worth of deals.
Even in the middle of the financial crisis, China’s economy is growing so fast that it now dwarfs those of many individual EU member states. In 2006, growth in exports from China to the EU outpaced those to the U.S., highlighting China’s shift in focus to Europe as its primary export destination.
In 2008, exports from the EU’s 27 member states rose to 106.3 billion dollars compared to 35 billion dollars in 2000, while its imports from China rose from 102 billion dollars to 337 billion over the same period.
Although trade topped the summit’s agenda, rising temperatures between China and the EU were on display as well. Beijing and Brussels have been at odds over Europe’s vocal disapproval of China’s handling of Tibet, human rights, and the communist country’s polices in Burma and Sudan’s Darfur region.
'None of the current global challenges that the world faces can be dealt with without cooperation between the EU and China. But at the same time the EU cannot keep silent to the violation of human rights in China,' Katerina Jacques, Czech MP from the Greens party told Czech media.
Brussels’ efforts to get Beijing to live up to its responsibility as a key stakeholder in the global community by agreeing to play a bigger political role have yielded few results thus far.
There was little indication whether China would exercise its influence with the military junta in Burma to release Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition, who is charged with breaking the terms of her house arrest and now faces the prospect of five years in prison.
'I’d like to point out that internal affairs of Myanmar should be left to its own people to decide,' foreign ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu said at a regular press briefing this week ahead of the summit - referring to the official name of the country. 'As a neighbour of Myanmar, we hope relevant parties in Myanmar could realise reconciliation, stability and development through dialogue.'
In the month preceding the summit, the European Council on Foreign Relations released a report on EU-China relations, warning that China was gaining the upper hand in the relationship, with Europe struggling to be heard on many high visibility issues.
Even though China is the EU’s second largest trading partner, the authors argued, EU policy still has roots in a time when China was a developing country rather than a diplomatic competitor. The report argued that following the failure of the EU to put united demands to China at the G20 meetings, it is essential that the EU strike tougher bargains with Beijing and use the leverage at its disposal, or it risks being outmanoeuvred.
'China knows its strength and no longer bothers to hide it,' the report titled ‘EU-China Power Audit’ said, suggesting Beijing was now ready to treat the EU with something 'akin to diplomatic contempt' - apparent in its last- minute cancelation of the December EU-China summit in Lyon.
The release of this report has been greeted here as an indication that EU- China bilateral ties are getting increasingly complex, and booming economic and business ties between the two sides can not stem the occurrence of embarrassing incidents like Sarkozy’s meeting with the Dalai Lama.
'Europe is getting more and more demanding of China,' said a high-profile article in the liberal Southern Weekend newspaper here this week.
'The European Union’s policy to China was never one of ‘unconditional engagement’,' the paper quoted Ma Zhengang, senior diplomat and former ambassador to the UK, referring to the report’s criticism. 'But right now there is every indication that the bloc’s approach to China is undergoing changes.'
The rift with France over Tibet is only the latest in a series of recent disputes over China’s human rights record. A 2007 meeting between Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany, and the Dalai Lama, also raised hackles in Beijing. The People’s Daily said the encounter had 'seriously harmed relations between Beijing and Berlin.'
'China-EU relations still have a very rigid political framework and both sides often have unrealistic demands of each other,' says Xing Hua, European researcher at the China Institute of International Studies. 'But in the current global situation it would be beneficial for the EU to concentrate on realistic gains that can be achieved through cooperation with China and put aside some of its idealistic expectations.'
© Inter Press Service (2009) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service