EU-China dialogue to deepen economic co-op for early recovery

JOINING HANDS AGAINST CRISIS

It is the second time that the EU and China hold the high-level economic and trade dialogue. The first meeting was held in Beijing in April 2008 after the mechanism was agreed at a China-EU summit in November 2007.

Compared with a year ago, a major change is the deterioration of the world economic situation. Hard hit by the financial crisis, the world economy plunged into its first recession in 60 years and the world trade was forecast to shrink by nine percent this year, the worst since the Second World War.

There is no escape from the crisis for both the EU and China. The EU economy will contract 4 percent this year, according to the latest forecast by the commission, while China's economic growth has also slowed down.

Trade between the EU and China has been affected, with lower growth rates registered in the first several months of this year. The dialogue is a good chance for the two economies to expand trade as a countermeasure against the world economic slump.

An EU trade official said that a key message from the dialogue will be a joint appeal against protectionism, which would only make the crisis last longer.

In the face of an economic downturn, there is an increasing risk that more governments would resort to protectionist measures. For the EU, there has been more frequent use of anti-dumping measures against Chinese products, which is a major concern of the Chinese side.

Speaking before the opening of the meeting, Ashton stressed that the EU and China have to stand firm against protectionism.

"The way out of this economic crisis is not to shrink into our shells. We need to kick-start our economies, fight protectionism and create new opportunities for trade and investment," she said.

The EU trade official said a joint action against protectionism by the EU and China would also send a strong signal to the world, adding the two sides will discuss how to move forward the long-stalled Doha Round of global trade talks.