Read-out of the bilateral meeting between Executive Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and Minister Wang Wentao

Among other issues, the two sides discussed the importance of EU-China trade. EVP Dombrovskis flagged the need to rebalance the trade and investment relationship and raised concerns regarding the level playing field and specific market access concerns. The EU side raised Russia’s war in Ukraine, and that the sanctions cannot be circumvented. EVP Dombrovskis also pointed to the unacceptable remarks of H.E. Lu Shaye, China’s Ambassador to Paris, who questioned the status of independent countries. Minister Wang confirmed that China’s official position has not changed.

The two sides also discussed concrete outcomes for the next High-Level Dialogue for Economy and Trade, which was agreed by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Chinese President Xi Jinping. The EVP welcomed the announcement that Chinese Vice-Premier He Lifeng will be co-chairing the High-Level Dialogue for Economy and Trade and is looking forward to fruitful cooperation. 

The EVP also emphasised the need to recalibrate bilateral trade relations. China’s market-distortive policies and the growing politicisation of the business environment create doubts and disincentives for European investors. In particular, the two sides also discussed the need to address supply chain issues within existing formats.

On specific market access concerns, EVP Dombrovskis highlighted concerns related to regulatory burdens affecting, among others, the agri-food market sector, medical devices and cosmetics. He reiterated long-standing requests for access to standardisation bodies on cryptography and concerns over restrictions on cross-border data transfers. He also called on China not to restrict trade of technologies that are highly important for international climate change mitigation efforts.

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EU-China trade relations