Chinese officials urge EU to avoid ‘protectionist actions’ M Haris

BEIJING: Chinese officials have repeatedly urged Brussels to avoid taking protectionist actions against Chinese electric vehicles (EVs), warning such actions could lead trade frictions to spiral out of control and stressing China’s rights and capabilities to take countermeasures if the EU takes any action that harms Chinese interests.

The latest warnings from senior Chinese trade officials, who were in Europe for various activities, further demonstrated China’s resolve to take concrete measures to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese firms, as the EU moves closer to decide whether to impose tariffs against Chinese EVs, Chinese experts said on Monday.

Chinese officials and experts also highlighted the deeper repercussions from any EU protectionist actions, given the massive amount of trade between China and the EU in the auto industry. While there is competition, mutual interests are much greater, they stressed, calling on the EU to return to the right path of cooperation.

On Saturday, Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao chaired a roundtable meeting of Chinese-funded enterprises in Spain in Barcelona. While commending Spain’s rationality, pragmatism and friendliness toward China, Wang also criticized the EU’s recent move of citing various false claims such as “overcapacity” and discriminatorily using various tools such as trade remedies to launch probes into a slew of Chinese products, including EVs, locomotives and solar panels.

“This has led to the continuous rise in the risk of China-EU economic and trade frictions,” Wang said, according to a statement from the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) on Sunday. “We hope to properly handle economic and trade frictions through dialogue and consultation, accommodate the legitimate concerns of both sides, and avoid an out-of-control escalation of trade frictions.”

The Chinese side has noticed that French, German and European Union officials have repeatedly stated their intention to avoid a “trade war” and support a multilateral trading system based on rules and a fair competitive environment, Wang said.

Wang further warned that if the EU’s actions fail to match its leaders’ words and if EU continues to suppress Chinese companies, China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard the legitimate interests of Chinese companies.

On Sunday, Wang visited a factory of the joint venture between Chinese manufacturer Chery Automobile and Spain’s Ebro-EV Motors, where he stressed that while there is competition between China and the EU in the EV sector, cooperation is even greater. “We hope that the EU will abandon protectionism and return to the right path of dialogue and cooperation.”

Also on Sunday, Ling Ji, a vice minister of MOFCOM, chaired a symposium on Chinese-funded enterprises in the Greek capital Athens. Ling urged Chinese firms to fully recognize the damage of the EU’s protectionist actions and said that China will not allow the EU to undermine China-Greece cooperation.

“We hope that the EU side will match its words and deeds and will not do anything that may cause trade frictions to escalate out of control. If the EU side insists on going its own way and continues to suppress Chinese companies, China has the right and sufficient ability to take measures to defend the legitimate interests of Chinese companies,” Ling said.

As the EU is reportedly mulling potential actions against Chinese EVs, including tariff measures, the clear warnings from the Chinese officials are imperative for letting Brussels know the profound repercussions of its protectionist moves, Chinese experts said.