CHINA: European Union urges China to act more on trade and global warming

European Commission president, Jose Manuel Barroso, speaking ahead of a high-level summit between EU and China, has urged China to contribute more to manage trade issues and deal with global warming. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso on Tuesday (November 27) urged China to balance trade between the two sides, and act more on climate change. Barroso made the speech in a visit to China's Central Communist School, a cradle for the country's future political leaders. His remarks also came one day ahead of a high-level summit between EU and China. Leaders from the two sides are scheduled to discuss some hot issues, including value of China's currency, trade, global warming and Taiwan. Barroso said the trade imbalance between the two sides had been a real problem facing EU. "One issue, however, deserves sustained political attention from leaders on both sides -- the growing trade deficit between the EU and China. The current situation is not sustainable," Barroso said. A dialogue on macroeconomic and monetary issues between high-levels on both sides would help to solve the problems, he added. China, although as a developing country, should act more on climate change issues, Barroso said. "European Union is responsible for only 14 percent of green-house gas emissions, and is acting, but can not act alone. We have fixed new and very ambitious objectives for ourselves, but these will serve little purpose if other countries, including China, a huge consumer of fossil fuels, do not join in common action," he said. China is set to surpass the United States as the world's top emitter of carbon dioxide, but has resisted pressure to agree to caps or specific targets on its emission. It has said rich nations should do more on the climate change issues. Barroso stated its stance on Taiwan, a self-governed island China claims its own after it split from the mainland in 1945. "Regarding Taiwan, our policy of one-China is well-known. I think everybody recognises that. We have been consistently, over the years, a staunch supporter of the one-China policy," Barroso said. Beijing also needs to do more to improve its record on food and product safety, he added. Ahead of the EU-China Summits, visiting French President Nicolas Sarkozy has urged Beijing to let Chinese currency rise more swiftly, so as to help reduce global trade imbalances, including a swelling European deficit with China.

ITN Source | November 27, 2007

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