We have just concluded our EU China Summit. First, I would like to thank President Xi and Premier Li for hosting us today.
The EU is committed to engaging openly with China across a wide range of topics. Seven months ago, in June, the 27 EU leaders had a strategic in-depth discussion on our relationship with China and we have a clear position: all EU member states are united.
This summit was prepared by many high-level dialogues on trade and economy, climate, environment, digital, human rights and foreign policy issues. Today we continued to build on this work. The EU and China have a shared interest in a stable and constructive relationship, and this must be based on respect for the international rules-based order.
We discussed our trade and economic relationship. The EU and China are major economic partners and global powerhouses. We trade over €2 billion in goods every day, but the EU has a trade deficit of almost €400 billion. We need to make our trade and economic relationship more balanced and reciprocal. In the EU we continue to work towards a real level playing field for our companies and we expect China to take more concrete action to improve market access and the investment environment for foreign companies.
We intend to continue to diversify our supply chains and address our dependencies to be fit for tomorrow’s challenges. Let me give you just one example. Graphite is fundamental for the defence industry. China has decided to limit its export of graphite, and this has consequences for our sovereignty and strategic autonomy. This example shows what is at stake. In the EU we must better protect our interests, and this does not mean decoupling or turning inward, because both the EU and China have an interest in an effective rules-based trading system, with the WTO at its core.
As we speak, Russia continues to illegally attack Ukraine, and you know that we strongly support the people of Ukraine. This includes Ukraine’s future in our European Union. As a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China has a special responsibility, because this Russian war threatens global stability and the world economy. It also affects the most vulnerable around the world, for instance by increasing food insecurity and driving up commodity prices. This is not in Europe’s interest, this is not in China’s interest, this is not in the world’s interests.
This is why we strongly encourage China to engage constructively on Ukraine’s peace formula. Russia continues to look for ways to access technology to power its war. Once again, we insisted that China should not supply military tools to Russia. And we reiterated how important it is that China help to prevent Russia from circumventing sanctions.
We also discussed the tragic war unfolding in the Middle East. Since the first hours, the EU has condemned Hamas’s horrific attack on the people of Israel. Israel has the right to defend itself and this must be done in line with international humanitarian law, including the principle of proportionality. Each civilian life matters; every effort must be made to protect civilians. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is dire, and the EU is the largest international aid donor to the Palestinians. Since the start of the war, we have quadrupled our humanitarian aid to over €100 million. We agree with China that getting lifesaving aid to the most vulnerable must be a top priority. And together, we support reviving the political process based on a two-state solution.
Peace and stability are important everywhere, including here in Asia. We are concerned about the growing tensions in the Taiwan Strait and in the South China Sea. We are opposed to any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force or coercion and the EU maintains its One China policy. I trust that China is fully aware of the serious consequences of any escalation in this region.
For the European Union, human rights and fundamental freedoms are universal. We will never turn a blind eye to human rights cases. Today we welcome China’s resumption of the human rights dialogue, as we agreed during my visit. It’s a step in the right direction and today we continued this conversation at the highest level. We also highlighted cases of specific concern, such as the human rights violations in Xinjiang or Tibet, for instance.
More cooperation is the only way to tackle the world’s most difficult challenges, so we also discussed areas where we can and where we should work together. We encouraged China to be more ambitious in fighting climate change and protecting the environment. We also invited China to join global efforts to triple renewable energy capacity and to double energy efficiency by 2030 and to cut methane emissions.
We are also cooperating to improve global health, and this includes work on the international pandemic treaty. China has a role in helping to address the debt burden and in tackling the consequences for vulnerable countries in a sustainable way.
Together with the President of the Commission and the High Representative we are here in China to promote our values and to protect our interests. We have made progress in areas of shared interest and we will continue to engage with China based on transparency, predictability, and reciprocity. Now it’s time to speed up this progress and to make our relationship fairer and more reciprocal, and to work together to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
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