Draft leader's statement said that the European Union will persuade China to agree on a deadline to open up its economy at a summit in Brussels on April 9 as they coax the Asian economic giant to keep its promises to deepen trade ties.
The six-page joint communiqué drafted by the European Union for China's approval said that China and the European Union will agree by summer 2019 on a set of priority market access barriers and requirements facing their operators. The European Union plans to push China to agree on a special treaty to increase investment flows that have been under negotiation for almost a decade by 2020.
The European Union's diplomats said that the communiqué shows Europe's frustration in the Asian nation's reluctance to allow foreign companies to start their businesses in the country without restrictions while taking the full advantage of the European Union's openness.
The European Union pushed the urgency of the April meeting because of the increasing Chinese takeovers in critical sectors in Europe and the growing concern in the continent that the Asian nation has not kept its promise to stand up for free trade and globalization.
European leaders plan to use a March 21 summit to discuss the policies of China despite the bugger issue of Britain's imminent exit from the European Union. The summit is a part of a series of high-level meetings before the scheduled arrival of President Xi Jinping in Italy and France from this week and the scheduled summit of the bloc with China on April 9. The European Union's joint draft statement is scheduled to be formally released at the summit between Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk.
According to Linas Linkevicius, Lithuania's foreign minister, China is becoming really expansionist and have to stick to the rules because they are competing.
During the visit of China's top diplomat in Brussels, China dismissed the claims of the United States security warnings against China's telecoms equipment maker Huawei. China said that the allegations are groundless and "abnormal".
Wang Yi, Chinese State Councillor, advised the United States to stop its attempts to bring down the company. He said that what China opposes are groundless accusations for political purposes and attempts to bring down a foreign company. He added that the practices are abnormal, immoral and have no support. On his visit, Wang had a meeting with the European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and spent his lunch with European Union's foreign ministers in Brussels.
