Foreign and Military Affairs

Sino-EU ties to warm in 2011

By Li Xiaokun and Ai Yang (China Daily)
Updated: 2011-01-04 08:10

BEIJING - China will begin its high-level diplomacy in the new year on Tuesday with Vice-Premier Li Keqiang starting his three-state European visit, likely to give a strong boost to the bloc's economic recovery.

Li's visit from Jan 4 to 12 will take him to Spain, Germany and the UK.

"China is a responsible long-term investor, both in the European financial market and in the Spanish financial market," Li wrote in an article published in the Spanish newspaper El Pas on Monday.

"China has confidence in Spain's financial market. It has purchased Spanish Treasury bonds and will buy still more," the article said.

Li's talks with Spanish leaders are likely to touch on Spain's financial woes amid fears of a sovereign debt crisis in Europe, which is China's biggest export market.

Beijing's ambassador to Madrid Zhu Bangzao said on the eve of Li's visit that the trip will "play a key role in helping Spain and other EU nations tide over the impact of the financial crisis and restore financial market confidence".

He did not give details on that issue, but revealed the visit will bring forward bilateral trade and economic cooperation to "a higher level".

A series of cooperation agreements in such fields as finance, energy, telecommunications, tourism and food are expected to be signed there, he said.

China has pledged to help support struggling eurozone economies against the threat of a debt crisis after Greece and Ireland were forced to resort to international financial bailouts.

Gao Hucheng, the Ministry of Commerce International Trade Representative, has said at the year's end that the Ministry of Commerce organized 10 procurement teams to the EU in 2010, signing 192 agreements worth more than $48 billion.

In addition, he said in 2010 alone seven top Chinese leaders including President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao paid official visits to the EU, while some 65 high-level delegations from the EU and its member states visited China.

Feng Zhongping, director of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations told China Radio International that at the post-financial crisis stage, "China and Europe need each other more economically".

Bilateral trade volume between China and Europe reached $430 billion during the first 11 months of 2010 - a 30 percent surge compared with the same period of the previous year, with European exports to China growing rapidly.

The year 2011 will see more opportunities for China and Germany, especially in low carbon and green economy related issues, Germany's ambassador to China Michael Schaefer has told the Chinese media.

And for the UK, retail analyst Jonathan De Mello, from the CB Richard Ellis consultancy, told The Daily Mail that Chinese shoppers have become the biggest spenders on luxury items in Britain.

He said Chinese buyers now account for about 30 percent of the luxury goods market in Britain - followed by Russians, Arabs and Japanese, with British shoppers making up only around 15 percent of the purchases.

The report said many West End stores in London have appointed assistants who speak Mandarin to help cash in on the massive new market.

Nearly 2.5 million Chinese people visited Western Europe in 2010, which was up one-fifth over 2009, and the amount they spent almost doubled, the newspaper said.

"To divide something by 1.3 billion may be discouraging. But it is definitely encouraging and even exciting to multiply something by 1.3 billion," Li Keqiang wrote in the El Pas article.

During the visit, he will have talks with leaders of the three nations, including Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron.