Nimen hao.

Good morning, everyone. 

First of all, let me welcome former Prime Minister of France, a great European, former Commissioner twice, former Minister of France a number of times, among other things Minister of Foreign Affairs, but very recently Prime Minister of France, Michel Barnier. It's an honor to have you here. Please join me in a round of applause. 

Director General Li Jian, thank you for honouring with your presence this event. 

Colleagues, Ambassadors of the European Union Member States, and colleagues from the Diplomatic Corps in Beijing, 

Ladies and gentlemen,

Friends from China and Europe,

It is my great honour to welcome you to this conference, one of the events we are organizing to mark the 50th anniversary of the EU-China relations. This 50th anniversary is a golden opportunity to take stock of what has happened in the last five decades between the European Union and China, examine the current challenges, and together lay solid foundations for the future. And this seminar can certainly contribute to that. 

Today, over 30 distinguished guests speakers from the EU and China will reflect on the current state of EU-China relations, focusing on the themes of encouraging balance, upholding commitments, and embracing responsibilities. I would like to express my appreciation to our speakers, both from China and the European Union, some of whom have travelled all the way from Europe for participating in this discussion. 

As I said last week in my speech at the Europe Day reception at the EU Delegation, over the past 50 years both the European Union and China have undergone profound transformations. The then European Community enlarged from 9 Member States to 27 now. Along with the successive enlargements, we have evolved into a deeply integrated European Union that is today the world's largest trading bloc and social market. But even more importantly, it is a bastion of peace, fundamental freedoms, democracy, rule of law, and prosperity. 

How can we describe what has happened in the last five decades? What are the current challenges? How can we ensure a stable, fruitful, mutually beneficial relations for decades to come? 

As you know, since 2019, the European Union describes its relations with China as multifaceted. China is a partner, but also a competitor and a systemic rival. I know that our Chinese friends and interlocutors do not like some of these characterizations. However, we think it is a fair description, not a strategy. It has evolved, it is evolving, and it will evolve. And finally, it has been confirmed and ratified by the 27 Member States at the highest level, the European Council. 

Let me start with the last part, the systemic rival. 

It is a fact that we have different political systems, but this fact did not prevent us to develop extremely intense relationships and cooperation over the last 50 years. However, in 2019, we already saw strong signs of diverging views and narratives about issues that are very important for the European Union, be it on human rights or in the Chinese actions on the South China Sea, for instance. 

But China's single most important factor of deterioration of the systemic rivalry facet of our relationship has been what in Europe has been clearly perceived as political and diplomatic support to Russia since it started its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, in a blatant violation of principles that are very dear to China, like territorial integrity or non-interference in internal affairs. May I remind you that Putin's declared intention was to topple the Ukrainian government. And in blatant violation of most basic principles of the UN Charter, which arguably was agreed by the UN Charter to prevent this kind of aggression. 

Nobody is accusing China of being the cause or an active actor in the aggression, but the fact that it has not been willing to call war a war, to call an aggressor an aggressor, a victim a victim, and its diplomatic, political and even material support to Russia has been damaging China's image and reputation in Europe. 

Let's talk about the present and the future. Tomorrow there may be an important meeting in Istanbul between Russia and Ukraine, and maybe somebody else. Only Ukraine can decide on the terms for a just and sustainable peace. We in the European Union have said and repeated that Ukraine can count on our support and our help, whatever it takes, for as long as it takes. 

We welcome China's insistence on the respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty. We welcome its recent calls for the European Union to be at the negotiating table for peace. However, we still have concerns about its repeated call for a new European security architecture, or the need for the peace to respect supposed legitimate security concerns. Let me be very clear. No legitimate security concerns, no so-called root causes can justify in any form the aggression that happened. China has now again an opportunity to exert its influence and use its good relations with Russia to convince her to agree now, immediately, to a 30-day ceasefire. China's present and future roles in this existential issue for the European Union could be crucial to improve our relations. 

Human rights structured dialogue in Brussels in June. Next month, the third since we resumed it in 2023, and the Strategic Dialogue hopefully beginning of July, where Foreign Minister Wang Yi will travel to Brussels to meet our new High Representative, Kaja Kallas, will be very good opportunities to discuss some of these issues. 

Let me address briefly the competition facets of our relations. Fifty years ago, trade between the then European Community and China was worth the equivalent of 2 billion euros a year. Now, it is over 2 billion euros a day. That is more than 365 times more. Today, the European Union and China are two of the top three trading powers in the world. And the European Union is the largest single market for Chinese goods. However, on parallel to the rapid growth of our exchanges, imbalances have been growing up, some of which are at risk of becoming unsustainable. I am referring especially to the trade and economic imbalance that has grown to be one of the largest in the world in the 2024 Guinness Book of Records, historical Guinness Book of Records, in trade deficit in history. 

It is not the fact that we have a deficit, not even that it is a very large one, that causes great concerns, because deficits and surpluses are part of functioning trade. However, this unbalanced relationship, both in terms of trade flows as well as investment, is in large part the result of continuing and significant distortions in China's own economy. Chinese industrial overcapacity, is caused by over-subsidization and by the real estate crisis that has led to a lack of demand and consumption, that is putting some of our industrial bases around the world at risk. The EU is not the only one affected by this, also many economies around the world, in particular emerging markets. 

These structural issues that affect the Chinese economy are for China to solve. In fact we welcome recent Chinese government determination and efforts to address them, especially the lack of consumption. 

However, what we have been witnessing in the last few years also, what we hear from our companies, some of them are present here, is the increasing lack of level playing field in the Chinese market. One proof, very easy. From 2017 to 2024, the Chinese economy, the (Chinese) GDP grew by 40%. Impressive. Well, the European Union exports in China decreased in the same period by 30%. And this has only happened in China. So, because sometimes we are told that it is a lack of competitiveness of our economy. But it doesn't work anywhere else in the world. So, something is wrong. Something is wrong when the European Union Chamber of Commerce lists in 2022 947 market access barriers or market access problems. And the list goes up to 1058 in 2024. Please, I am telling our Chinese interlocutors, make no mistake, the lack of ratification of CAI or the EV tariffs, which affect less than 2% of Chinese exports to the European Union, is not the real problem. There are 1058 problems that we must address. We are discussing with our Chinese friends. Commissioner Sefcovic was here in Beijing. We had very fruitful discussion with Minister Wang Wentao and discussions are going on. But I must say that we see no progress yet. And this is of concern. 

It is high time for the two partners to go beyond mere dialogue and make real progress. And, and this is very important, without looking at what others say or do. We have our own bilateral issues. Let's solve them, let's tackle them. We do not have to look across the Pacific or across the Atlantic to solve them. We can solve them bilaterally. 

Finally, last but not least, China is our partner. And the brightest part in this partnership is the fight against climate change, the protection of biodiversity and the environment. Green is the colour of our cooperation, said Premier Li Qiang to President von der Leyen in 2023. And he was right. We have had remarkable successes. Both China and the European Union are cooperating very well. 

We are asking the Chinese to be even more ambitious. The European Union is leading the climate ambition. We want China to be more ambitious and we hope China will respond to this thing. It is extremely important, especially now that the United States has withdrawn from the agreement. We have a special responsibility to continue our cooperation and to make this work, despite all the difficulties. 

We are going to have a number of dialogues and we are going to hold a Summit, the EU-China Summit, hopefully at the end of July. Let's work towards deliverables, towards progress. It is extremely important right now, when we are facing rapid and profound changes, that we provide stability and that we provide progress in this uncertain time. 

In concluding, let me once again quote the President of the European Commission and the President of the European Council in their congratulatory messages to President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang on the 6th of May: “A balanced relationship built on fairness and reciprocity is in our common interest”. We need to find joint solutions to shared challenges and to deepen our engagement and cooperation in the interest of regional and global security, prosperity and sustainable development.

As the saying goes, no one can thrive in isolation. It is our responsibility and ours alone to advance EU-China relations, regardless of the actions taken by other global players.
The European Union is ready to do the necessary efforts and we call China to do the same.

Thank you very much. 

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Find more information on the following page: https://www.eeas.europa.eu/delegations/china/conference-50-years-eu-china-relations_en?s=166