Delicate diplomacy defines China-EU summit

With the US levelling tariffs on both China and the European Union (EU) amid escalating trade tensions, this year’s China-EU summit seemed to take on a new level of significance.

Commentators waited to see whether President Trump’s protectionist policies would push China and the EU into forming an anti-US trade coalition at the summit, held in Beijing on Monday.

That doesn’t seem to have happened, with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang telling journalists that China was not seeking an alliance to counter US tariffs – a point emphasised by the South China Morning Post in its summit coverage.

“The talks between China and the EU do not target a third party and are not affected by a third party,” Li said. “Leaving behind any other county — let’s not even talk about leaving behind the US or a country located between Europe and China — is unfeasible, because this is a multilateral trade agreement.”

The Financial Times interpreted the comments as an “olive branch” to the US, reflecting an ongoing attempt to cool tensions and entice Washington back towards a multilateral trade outlook.

However, there are indications that other factors prevented a fully united front at the summit. Channel News Asia reports that the EU delegation pushed China to open up its economy further, with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker saying, “if China wishes to open up it can do so. It knows how to open up.”

This gets at the heart of an important truth; that the US is not alone in its criticism of Chinese economic practices, which are shared by many in the EU. It should be remembered that, in June, the EU made a formal complaint to the WTO about China’s controversial technology-transfer practices, as reported by Bloomberg.

These issues mean that, despite the pressure being applied by US tariffs on the EU, the bloc is unlikely to fully embrace Beijing in response. Washington probably knows this.

The 2018 China-EU summit, therefore, seems to have witnessed a delicate diplomatic performance in which the US was criticised but not ostracised, and China poked but not provoked.

Perhaps the most notable outcome of the summit, captured in a joint statement, was a commitment to “reform” the WTO.

According to Chinese state media outlet Xinhua, “Both sides strongly support the rule-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade Organization (WTO) as its core and were committed to complying with existing WTO rules. The two sides agreed to set up a joint working group to discuss the WTO reform.”