EU warns China it will 'not tolerate' unfair competition at high-stakes summit

euronews (in English)

European leaders will "not be able to tolerate that our industrial base is undermined by unfair competition," Ursula von der Leyen warned on Thursday after a highly anticipated meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Transcript

00:00 Good morning.

00:03 European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen labelled it a summit of choices, and

00:07 it wasn`t much beyond that.

00:10 At the first in-person EU-China summit in over four years, leaders from both sides met

00:15 Thursday in Beijing, where frank words were exchanged, but no solid action was committed

00:20 to.

00:21 By far the biggest issue of the day was the huge trade imbalance Europe faces with the

00:25 Asian giant, which currently stands at nearly 400 billion euros.

00:30 And Commission President von der Leyen says that the EU will no longer turn a blind eye

00:34 to it.

00:36 Politically European leaders will not be able to tolerate that our industrial base is undermined

00:42 by unfair competition.

00:44 We like competition.

00:46 It makes us better, it lowers prices.

00:49 It's good for the consumers.

00:51 But competition needs to be fair.

00:55 We insist on fair competition within the single market.

00:59 Therefore, we also insist on fair competition from companies that come to our single market.

01:06 Tensions between Brussels and Beijing have steadily risen over the past year as the EU

01:11 seeks to de-risk its economy from China.

01:13 In September, the commission opened up a probe into subsidized Chinese electric cars entering

01:19 the blocks market, riling Beijing in the process.

01:22 At the summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping himself warned Europe not to implement protectionist

01:27 trade policies.

01:29 But at the same time, the door was left open to a deepening of ties.

01:34 China is promoting high-quality development and high-level openness.

01:37 We are willing to support the EU as a key partner in economic and trade cooperation,

01:40 and to insist on strategic autonomy.

01:41 China and the EU have come to a real multilateralism.

01:42 To maintain world peace, promote joint development, and respond to global challenges, we will

01:43 work together.

01:44 For this analyst from Merix, a think tank currently sanctioned by China, the summit

01:56 may not have delivered on much, but it has set the EU's tone for Beijing that if it

02:01 does not take action, then Europe will respond.

02:07 It seemed that the EU has put on the table the fact that it really wants China to engage

02:13 constructively and if not, it's going to take action.

02:16 It's very much a signal that the EU side is expecting action to happen soon on the Chinese

02:22 side.

02:23 If not, then our relationship might get a little bit more complex in terms of European

02:28 responses.

02:29 Cooperation on climate change was also a key topic, despite China's latest commitment to

02:33 a whole host of fresh coal power plants.

02:37 On Ukraine, Brussels reiterated its desire for Beijing to help end the war and to stop

02:42 Russian businesses from circumventing Western sanctions.

02:45 (lion growling)

02:47 (dramatic music)

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