Disagreements Dominated Yesterday's EU-China Virtual Summit

CNBC: Trade, human rights and climate: Disagreements dominate EU-China summit

* The EU and China have often clashed over human rights issues, trade and economic policy.
* The coronavirus pandemic, which emerged in China in late 2019, has complicated the two regions’ delicate relationship even further.

LONDON — EU and Chinese officials are meeting on Monday, but it will not be the grand ceremony they had hoped for.

Both sides had planned to meet in Leipzig, Germany this month as they looked to sign an investment agreement before the end of 2020. However, with a global pandemic and little progress in their negotiations to date, the grand summit has been scaled down to a video call.

“Trust is very thin,” Yu Jie, senior research fellow at Chatam House, told CNBC.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: This EU - China summit did not end well for China. China expected greater access to European markets, but instead got a lecture on human rights, demands for greater access to Chinese markets, and criticisms on climate change. China's actions that helped spread the Covid-19 pandemic also soured this summit. In a nutshell, this was the EU's message to Chinese President Xi .... 'We won't be played', EU tells China's Xi (Reuters).

More News On Yesterday's EU - China Virtual Summit

Tear down your barriers, EU says after summit with China's Xi -- Reuters
Germany’s Angela Merkel says ‘political will’ exists to wrap up EU-China investment deal -- SCMP
Europe urges China to match its climate ambitions -- Euractiv
EU Tells Xi That China Must Show Investment Deal Worthwhile -- Bloomberg
Why the EU and China can’t come to terms -- David Hutt, Asia Times

China's Military Rise Has Been Helped By European Defense Firms

EU Firms Help Power China's Military Rise -- AFP

Beijing (AFP) - As China boosts its military spending, rattling neighbours over territorial disputes at sea, an AFP investigation shows that European countries have approved billions in transfers of weapons and military-ready technology to the Asian giant.

China's air force relies on French-designed helicopters, while submarines and frigates involved in Beijing's physical assertion of its claim to vast swathes of the South China Sea are powered by German and French engines -- part of a separate trade in "dual use" technology to Beijing's armed forces.

Chinese President Xi Jinping announced stepped-up production of the Airbus EC175 helicopter in China during his visit to France this month -- a deal analysts said could result in technology transfers to the military.

"European exports are very important for the Chinese military," said Andrei Chang, editor of the Hong Kong-based Kanwa Asian Defense Review.

Read more ....

Update: Facts: EU arms and technology sold to China's armed forces -- AFP

My Comment: It is always about the money.

China Will Aid The EU If The Arms Embargo Is Lifted

Political Deadlock Derails China's EU Aid Offer -- The Telegraph

Diplomatic deadlock is curbing China's will to provide cash to help end the eurozone crisis after Europe spurned the simplest of Beijing's three key demands, two independent sources have told Reuters.

China had offered help in return for European support to grant it either more influence at the International Monetary Fund, market economy status in the World Trade Organisation, or the lifting of a European arms embargo, said the sources, both of whom have direct knowledge of the matter, including one who has ties to the leadership in Beijing.

The IMF route would have been the simplest diplomatically, especially after European Union leaders last month laid out a plan to leverage up the resources of its crisis-fighting fund through an IMF-backed investment vehicle.

Read more ....

My Comment: China is asking for a lot ... especially access to military technology by lifting the arms embargo. So .... if the EU accepts the Chinese offer, that will then be proof to me that the EU is in serious trouble .... more than what they are telling us.

The World's Banker?

China Could Play Key Role In EU Rescue -- Financial Times

China is very likely to contribute to the eurozone’s bail-out fund but the scope of its involvement will depend on European leaders satisfying some key conditions, two senior advisers to the Chinese government have told the Financial Times.

Any Chinese support would depend on contributions from other countries and Beijing must be given strong guarantees on the safety of its investment, according to Li Daokui, an academic member of China’s central bank monetary policy committee, and Yu Yongding, a former member of that committee.

Read more ....

Update: EU bailout fund chief visits China -- Breitbart/AFP

My Comment: A Chinese contribution will be contingent on receiving European support on monetary issues against the U.S.. The Americans have been issuing threats on China's low renminbi policy .... threats that will (probably now) not be supported by Europe.

Yup .... he who has the gold also makes the rules. And in this crisis .... China is in an excellent position to make the rules.

What Will Be China`s Price For Helping Europe`s Debt Crisis

Beijing As The Euro's Savior: Europe And China Bound By Mutual Fears -- Spiegel Online

While a hard-up America can only admonish those involved in the euro crisis, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao is offering to be the savior. Beijing's price: more political credit and economic power. The EU must not be intimidated, however -- its bargaining position is better than it may seem at first.

A few years ago, critics from the United States and Europe gave their trading partner China a less-than-favorable name: In an insulting bit of latent racism, they dubbed the emerging superpower a "yellow peril." They warned of an army of Chinese minimum wage laborers, who would destroy entire industries in the West -- and with them millions of jobs. They also warned of growing political influence from the East, which could ultimately even lead to an erosion of human rights.

Read more ....

Update: Ulterior motives seen behind China's offer of help to US, Europe -- Deutsche Welle

My Comment: All the tea (and money) in China is not enough to help Europe`s (and our) debt crisis. What will solve the debt crisis is to have governments overcome their addiction to spending .... a prospect that (unfortunately) does not appear feasible at the moment.

Europe's Debt And Financial Crisis Continues, But China Is Willing To Help

Despite Greece's 2011 Austerity Budget, A Financial Chill Deepens In Europe -- Christian Science Monitor

Greece passed a budget early Thursday with deep spending cuts, but investors will probably remain leery of lending to Greece and some of its indebted European peers.

As an unseasonable freeze settles over much of Europe, even the Continent's balmier southern climates are suffering. But their freeze relates to cash, not the cold.

Greece, the longest suffering of Europe's so-called PIGS – Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain – approved an austere 2011 budget early Thursday that's in line with conditions imposed on it in exchange for a European Union and International Monetary Fund (IMF) bailout.

Read more ....

More News On Europe's Financial/Debt Crisis

Fresh humiliation for eurozone as China says it will bail out debt-ridden nations -- The Daily Mail
China offers to help eurozone -- Deutsche Welle
China Ready to Help Europe Return to Economic Health -- Voice of America
China emerges as potential saviour for crisis-hit Europe -- Economic Times
China offers support to eurozone -- BBC
China Says Willing to Help Euro Zone Return to Health -- ABC News
Why China Won’t Save Europe -- The Source/Wall Street Journal
Beijing’s Christmas gift to Europe -- Reuters
Can China play Santa for the euro? -- CNN/Fortune

My Comment: A fool and his money will always soon part .... and in this case the Chinese are being very foolish.

EU Uncertain To Lift Its China Arms Embargo

EU Remains Torn On Lifting China Arms Embargo -- Defense News

BRUSSELS - Europe remains divided on whether to lift an arms embargo clamped on China in 1989 following events in Tiananmen Square, EU foreign ministers said Sept. 11.

"We discussed delivering arms to China but did not advance at all towards a solution or joint position", French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said at the close of two days of informal talks with his 26 EU counterparts.

Read more ....

My Comment: If the Europeans want to lift the embargo so that they can do business with China .... this will be a mistake. The Russians had the same relationship that the Europeans want, and all that they got of it was a competitor from the Chinese when the Chinese started to copycat their technology.

I suspect that nothing will change in the EU embargo, but with China's military growing and Europeans needing business for their moribund economy .... pressure to release this embargo will only grow.