Written evidence submitted by the European
Commission
POSSIBLE POINTS
FOR COMMISSION
EVIDENCE
— Rise of China as an economic and
political power impacts on East Asia, the Asian region as a whole,
as well as on international and multilateral level; it is essential
to take this into account when shaping a balanced policy towards
the individual countries in Asia as well as our regional and sub-regional
approach;
— On international issues, have seen
increased Chinese engagement. Our assessment of China's engagement
rather mixed: Good cooperation on DPRK and Iran, but also increasing
concern about China's state-subsidised overseas investment and
aid policies, particularly in Africa;
— Also increased Chinese engagement
on regional issues, generally positive but has raised some concerns.
Tensions in East Asia remain, even though currently not at threatening
levels. North Korean nuclear issue, cross-strait relations and
Sino-Japanese relations are the watchwords; new emerging regional
structures such as East Asia Summit and Shanghai Cooperation Council
need to be closely watched; and the ASEAN Regional Forum deserves
steady support as it develops its new preventive diplomacy role.
The EU increasingly looks towards East Asia in a comprehensive
way;
— US has a vested interest in East
Asia as a key player on the full range of issues; EU needs to
take that into account when assessing the regional scenario and
for formulating its East Asian policies;
— China has become a key priority of
the EU and a comprehensive partnership has developed in a very
dynamic way over the past few years; this relationship is very
broad and cross-cutting and in the Commission alone more than
20 Directorates General are actively involved in dedicated sectoral
dialogues;
— The structure of the EU-China relationship
ranges from annual summits at Head of Government level, over Ministerial
and Senior official level meetings to sectoral dialogues; EU-China
strategic dialogue at Vice-Foreign Minister's level newly established
in December 2005 to meet 1-2 times/year;
— Commission to issue a new Communication
on China in the second half of 2006 to map out comprehensive policy
for EU's engagement with China;
— EU-China Human Rights Dialogue continues
and we are trying to make it more meaningful and results-oriented;
progress on human rights in China has been very limited and situation
has even deteriorated in some areas, notably on freedom of expression;
— Arms embargo still topping the list
of Chinese demands, but required unanimity in Council not established;
China well aware of EU expectations on human rights progress to
contribute to positive environment for lift;
— The embargo issue also has implications
on our bilateral relations with other key partners—foremost
the US, but also Japan and Korea. We have therefore launched a
process of strategic dialogues with the US and Japan in 2005 and
an enhanced political dialogue with Korea, held on 16 March, to
inform about our policy approach (`tool box') and give partners
an opportunity to raise their concerns. These exchanges have proven
to be useful in assessing the strategic outlook on developments
in East Asia of our other partners;
— Trade relations are ever expanding
and the EU is China's largest trading partner; trade disputes
are more and more frequent, but try to resolve issues through
dialogue; EU trade deficit with China in 2005 surpassed psychological
threshold of 100 Billion Euro and increasingly causes public concern;
EU urges China to improve market access for European operators;
— Some progress has been achieved towards
granting of market economy status and technical bilateral work
is ongoing; at the moment four of the five conditions not yet
fulfilled; Commission stresses importance of market access and
intellectual property rights issues in this context;
Tim McNamara
European Commission Representation in the UK
27 April 2006
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