Chinese
President Xi Jinping has called for more concerted efforts to enhance
China-Europe relations and address shared challenges amid profound
global changes, and urged both sides to resolve economic and trade
differences through dialogue. He
made the appeals on Tuesday during meetings with German Chancellor Olaf
Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron on the sidelines of the G20
Leaders' Summit, an annual meeting that gathers leaders of the world's
major economies to address global issues. JOINT EFFORTS Over
the past decades, China has maintained sound and stable relations with
both Germany and France despite the complex international situation.
This has been marked by frequent high-level visits, fruitful practical
cooperation in various fields, and close people-to-people exchanges. During
his meeting with Scholz, Xi said the two countries need to consolidate
the comprehensive strategic partnership from a long-term and strategic
perspective and continue to write cooperative stories of mutual
achievement. China
and Germany share highly integrated economic interests, and bilateral
cooperation is an opportunity for shared development and common future,
Xi said, noting that China regards Germany as an important partner in
advancing Chinese modernization, and will continue to provide broad
market opportunities for German companies.
While meeting Macron, the Chinese president recalled his visit to France in May, during which the two heads of state outlined a vision for the next 60 years of China-France relations and jointly spoke out on global challenges and hotspot issues, leaving a wide and positive impact on the international arena.
China-France relations are of unique strategic significance and global influence, and the new round of reform and opening-up process in China will create fresh opportunities for China-France cooperation and broaden the scope for practical cooperation between the two nations, he noted.
Currently, the international community is faced with mixed and severe challenges, including rising protectionism and unilateralism, climate change, and escalating regional conflicts.
Addressing these concerns, Xi emphasized the importance of sustained China-EU cooperation and the crucial roles of Germany and France in the process.
He told the German chancellor that China regards Europe as an important pole in a multi-polar world, and is committed to cooperating with Europe to jointly meet challenges and promote the sustained, steady and sound development of China-EU relations.
Xi also said China and France, both major countries, share common responsibilities to lead the international community to unite in efforts to address global challenges at a time when many new changes are unfolding in the international landscape.
He called on Beijing and Paris to deepen strategic communication, strengthen mutual support, maintain a momentum of steady and positive development of bilateral relations, and make greater contribution to the sound development of China-Europe relations and world peace and stability.
In response, Macron said that the world today is full of instabilities and uncertainties, and France upholds strategic autonomy and is willing to engage in dialogue and cooperation with China, maintain a sound and steady development of bilateral economic and trade relations, and strengthen cooperation in climate change, global AI governance and other fields.
SOLVE TRADE DISPUTES VIA TALKS
At his meeting with Scholz, Xi raised the issue of the EU's tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), a major hotspot trade issue between the two sides, and asked the German leader to help resolve the dispute.
The EU's tariffs on Chinese EVs are drawing attention around the world, and China always insists on resolving differences through dialogue and consultation, Xi said.
It
is hoped that Germany will continue to play an important role in this
regard, Xi said, noting the two countries should focus on upgrading
cooperation through digitalization, intelligence and low-carbon action,
and work together to explore third-party markets to achieve win-win
cooperation. For
his part, Scholz voiced hope that the EU and China will solve the issue
of EVs as soon as possible through dialogue and negotiation, noting
that the German side is willing to make positive efforts in this regard. Germany
hopes to further develop the comprehensive strategic partnership with
China, strengthen bilateral and multilateral dialogue and cooperation in
the spirit of equality, frankness and mutual respect, properly resolve
differences, achieve mutual benefit and win-win results, and contribute
to world economic recovery, growth and common prosperity, Scholz added. In
a protectionist move, the European Commission finalized its decision
last month to levy tariffs on Chinese-made EVs with varying rates on
Chinese EV manufacturers, including BYD, Geely and SAIC, among others. The
decision has sparked strong opposition from key industry stakeholders
with major European automakers, including Volkswagen, BMW, and
Mercedes-Benz, voicing a unified stance against the tariffs while
advocating for open markets that support fair competition. As
observers have cautioned, these tariffs will weaken the competitiveness
of the European industry in the long term. Hildegard Mueller, president
of the German Association of the Automotive Industry, dismissed the
EU's move as "a step backwards for global free trade and thus for
prosperity, job security and growth in Europe." BMW
CEO Oliver Zipse warned that the tariffs could "harm the business model
of globally active companies, limit the supply of electric cars to
European customers and thus slow down decarbonization in the transport
sector." In
a recent interview with Xinhua, Ola Kaellenius, chairman of the board
of management of Mercedes-Benz, said protectionism in the form of
tariffs "is the wrong way to go, because we believe it stifles growth,
it stifles innovation, and it does not create a win-win situation for
everybody." "The
right direction would be to sit down with our Chinese partners, discuss
a level playing field, and make sure that we come to some kind of a
negotiated solution that both parties continue to have access to markets
that are opening up and are not creating borders," he said.
