CGTN Exclusive: Interview with China’s Ambassador to Belgium

CGTN Europe

As 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between China and the European Union, CGTN Europe sits down for an exclusive interview with China’s Ambassador to Belgium, Fei Shengchao.  In this in-depth conversation, Ambassador Fei shares his insights on recent high-level exchanges between China, Belgium, and EU leaders, discusses the evolving opportunities and challenges in the China-EU relationship, and reflects on the role of the WTO framework in today’s global trade landscape.  #ChinaEU50 #FeiShengchao #ChinaBelgium #ChinaEU #Diplomacy #EUChinaRelations #WTO #GlobalTrade

Transcript

00:00Ambassador Fei, great to have you.

00:02Thank you. Thank you for having me.

00:04Earlier this month, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi

00:07paid a visit to Belgium

00:09and he met Belgian Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister

00:12before he met the key leaders from the European Union.

00:16What do you think was the significance of this high-level exchange?

00:21I think the meetings with the Prime Minister of Belgium

00:26and the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Belgium

00:29were all very important because actually these were meetings

00:33for the first time ever since the new government of Belgium took office.

00:39And I believe that many know that this has been a historical relationship

00:44for many, many centuries and many, many decades

00:47since the founding of the People's Republic.

00:50Our two countries, China and Belgium, established diplomatic ties back in 1971.

00:58Even four years earlier than China-EU relations.

01:02So that this is an important relationship and such kind of high-level exchanges

01:08are very important in building trust and promoting cooperation

01:14and furthering the friendship between the two nations.

01:18And also, this certainly will have a very important role to play

01:23to further promote the relations between China and EU as a whole.

01:28Belgium has a unique position and location

01:31because it is actually a thoroughfare connecting the east and west of Europe

01:38and the north and south of Europe.

01:40So you can see all the neighbouring countries and its connectivity to all parts of Europe.

01:46That's why it has been chosen as the heart of Europe

01:49and many important EU institutions are located here in Brussels.

01:55And so I think that it has a unique role to play.

01:59Let's talk about the bigger picture between China and the European Union.

02:03And this year is the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties.

02:08The EU leaders now are in Beijing for the China-EU summit.

02:12What can we expect from the summit?

02:15I think China-EU do have a very important relationship.

02:20This relationship has been long and historical.

02:23And as Chinese President Xi Jinping rightly said,

02:27that China and the EU are actually two major forces for an autopolar world

02:35and two major markets supporting globalisation

02:38and also two major civilisations in support of diversity.

02:43And all these core principles and values are important,

02:48not only for China and the European Union,

02:51but also for humanity in a sense.

02:54So I believe that the high-level exchanges do have an important role to play

03:00to further strengthening the communication and cooperation between China and EU

03:06and also contributing to peace, stability and development in today's world.

03:14As many would agree that we live in a more uncertain and volatile world.

03:21But in these circumstances of increasing instability and uncertainty,

03:27it has become all the more important for China and the European Union

03:32to provide more stability and certainty in this world in terms of peace,

03:39in terms of stability and in terms of growth.

03:43The European Union and China, they do have their common ground.

03:46In the meantime, they do have their frictions, we have to say.

03:49And for some time, the European Union has criticised China's trade policies,

03:53including market access and export controls and a huge trade deficit.

03:59And the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned of,

04:03I'm quoting her, a new China shock citing industrial overcapacity.

04:08What's your response to it?

04:10As we said, this is an important relationship,

04:13and this is also a comprehensive relationship,

04:16which means that we have political exchanges,

04:19we have economic cooperation, we have trade in large volumes.

04:24It's not about hundreds of millions, but billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars.

04:31So it's huge.

04:33And also it covers culture, it covers people-to-people exchanges.

04:38It's such a very closely connected relationship.

04:42It's only natural that sometimes people may not see eye-to-eye on each and every issue.

04:49And the more you engage with each other, the more trouble,

04:54the more problems you may find in your exchanges.

04:57It's only natural.

04:59What is important is not to define the relationship by how much we disagree

05:06or how many problems we have found.

05:09Of course, we bear in mind the challenges we have and the problems we may find.

05:14More importantly, we need to define the relationship by the long-term feature of the relationship,

05:21that is cooperation, that is partnership.

05:24As long as we see each other as cooperation partners,

05:29there is always a way for us to take seriously the disagreements we may have,

05:35the problems we may find,

05:37and we may both be in a better position to address the differences and the problems we may have.

05:44Regardless, the EU is still following a strategy of de-risking from China.

05:49Do you think de-risking ultimately will lead to decoupling?

05:54As you also mentioned, there are all kinds of accusations made against China,

05:59and probably similar complaints would be made by Chinese people or Chinese businesses

06:06against some of the practices elsewhere.

06:09So I think that it's natural people may have different opinions,

06:12but I don't think any particular word or phrase would be sufficient

06:20to define this cooperative partnership.

06:24And what is important is to really discuss the real issues.

06:29As for some of the notions you have mentioned made by others, like overcapacity or others,

06:37I think that we need to take a fair perspective in terms of overcapacity.

06:43What does it mean exactly?

06:45Does it mean that as long as you produce more than you can consume yourself,

06:50then you have overcapacity?

06:52If that is the case, then there will be no international trade at all.

06:57Because we may see that even in Europe,

07:01I think that about 80% of German cars are built for exports.

07:09It's not for German use and not even just for the European use.

07:13And the same may be applied to Japan and also for American chips.

07:19many, many commodities.

07:21So we have to take a fair perspective and to see that whether there is real overcapacity

07:29and where it does exist.

07:31And we should not discriminate from country to country in terms of trade and capacity.

07:39As a matter of fact, when people talk about green development, which is still important,

07:44and which is still an area where China and EU have much common ground,

07:49there is not an overcapacity but undercapacity at the moment.

07:55And why do you think the EU is so concerned about overcapacity from China then?

08:00I wouldn't guess why they have this concern.

08:05I think that, of course, each and every country may have its reasonable or legitimate concerns.

08:12What is important is to see clearly whether these concerns are really fact-based,

08:19based on facts and the reality,

08:22and whether they are really serious in seeking a solution to the concerns they may have.

08:29Chinese businesses may have their concerns.

08:32European businesses may have their concerns.

08:35It's important for the business communities, for the government institutions,

08:39to talk to each other, to have more communication,

08:42and work together to try to find solutions together.

08:46That also makes the upcoming China-EU leaders' meeting all the more important.

08:51And do you think it carries more weight given that Donald Trump has imposed sweeping tariffs on the world?

08:58I don't think that that is a particular approach,

09:01very much well received or much welcomed by the rest of the world.

09:06But, of course, we know that no one would like to be dictated by others,

09:12still less than the major countries in this world.

09:16But what we can do is we try to figure out what is at the stake and what we can do together.

09:24As one of the European leaders said, that probably, yes, the United States is very important, no doubt.

09:33It counts about 13 to 15 percent of the world's economy or trade.

09:38But we still have about 83 to 85 percent of trade that we have among ourselves.

09:46So what is important is for us to not to go astray as others may,

09:52but try to focus on the right thing to do and try to see what we can do together

09:58to continue to promote multilateralism, to promote free trade within the WTO framework.

10:07And probably if we keep doing the right thing through the right communication and cooperation,

10:13we will be able to really make a difference for ourselves together and for the world.

10:19And do you think the WTO framework has been undermined?

10:23The WTO framework for various reasons have been challenged.

10:28It's not something new. It's been for years.

10:31But I think despite all the challenges, it's still a consensus by many in the international community

10:38to have the WTO framework respected and complied with.

10:44Otherwise, in the field of trade, we would be going back to the jungle.

10:49But first, if it comes up sometimes, that's not what we want to move to really,

10:54we would start to look like our single foundations.

10:56And we don't see here relationships with.

10:57So let's do it.

10:59And walk away at the bottom, never do it in the championship level.

11:00We take back a screenshot of our Hindu territory down the top.

11:01Let's do that and a double-group round.

11:02And then we will景 down the top of the green

11:09and nycadpiece being the table.

11:11If that happens, you have to take the floor right and the top of the opposite of the technology.

11:15Well, that's just the okay – that's why same fat teaspoons,

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