Statement by President von der Leyen at the joint press conference with President Michel, following the EU-China Summit videoconference

Source: European Commission (EC) i, published on Monday, June 22 2020.

Thank you.

Indeed, the relationship between the European Union and China is simultaneously one of the most strategically important and one of the most challenging that we have. Today's Summit has been a much-needed opportunity to discuss and move forward on all aspects of this complex and vital partnership.

Our discussions were both intense and they were indeed wide-ranging:

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    From trade and investment, to climate action and the digital field;
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    From Hong Kong to human rights;
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    And, of course, the coronavirus response.

We are able to discuss all these issues with China, but - I must say - most important was and remains that we must make progress. For this, the Summit was only a starting point. Progress implies cooperation by both sides, implies reciprocity, and implies trust. These have been central pillars of our discussions today.

Charles has already focussed on many of the important issues that we discussed, including on Hong Kong and human rights. I do not want to repeat what has already been said, but let me reiterate that - for the European Union - human rights and fundamental freedoms are non-negotiable. We always raise our concerns - that was the case today too - and insist on having our view on these topics.

Of course we discussed trade and investment. Indeed, the European Union is China's biggest trading partner and China is our second biggest. We will soon be in a position to sign our agreement on Geographical Indications. This guarantees a high level of protection for our respective producers and that is good.

And yet, we continue to have an unbalanced trade and investment relationship. We have not made the progress we aimed for in last year's Summit statement in addressing market access barriers. We need to follow up on these commitments urgently. And we also need to have more ambition on the Chinese side in order to conclude negotiations on an investment agreement. These two actions would address the asymmetry in our respective market access and would improve the level playing field between us. In order to conclude the investment agreement, we would need in particular substantial commitments from China on the behaviour of state-owned enterprises, transparency in subsidies, and transparency on the topic of forced technology transfers.

We have raised these issues at the same time with President Xi and Premier Li that we expect that China will show the necessary level of ambition to conclude these negotiations by the end of this year. I think it is important that we have now a political, high-level approach on these topics.

I have also made it clear that China needs to engage seriously on a reform of the World Trade Organization, in particular on the future negotiations on industrial subsidies. This is the relevant framework where we have to work together on the topic - and it is a difficult topic - but this is the framework, which we have to establish to have common binding rules we agree on.

And we must continue to work on tackling Chinese overcapacity, for example in the steel and metal sectors, and in high technology. Here for us it is important that China comes back to the international negotiation table, that we sit down there and find solutions.

We also pointed out the importance of the digital transformation and its highly assertive approach to the security, the resilience and the stability of digital networks, systems and value chains. We have seen cyberattacks on hospitals and dedicated computing centres. Likewise, we have seen a rise of online disinformation. We pointed out clearly that this cannot be tolerated.

We also discussed climate action. Climate change remains the global challenge of our generation. China has repeatedly projected itself as a leader on global climate issues and China is indeed on our side on this. However, being a leader brings responsibility to follow up with actions. We urge China to commit to climate neutrality as soon as possible after 2050. And we count on China to live up to its commitments under the Paris Agreement and step them up and lead by example. We look forward to seeing decarbonisation play a big a role in China's next five-year-plan as the European Green Deal plays a big role in our strategic agenda as well.

Last, but not least: the coronavirus pandemic. When the virus hit China, the European Union responded swiftly. We coordinated and co-financed the delivery of over 56 tonnes of emergency medical supplies. China then reciprocated when Europe faced the pandemic. We agreed on the need to continue this mutual solidarity. We agreed also in supporting countries and populations that are more vulnerable than our own, for example in the context of the Global Response Initiative.

To conclude, today has been a very intense, a very frank and a very open meeting. We would want and expect nothing less - this was good. It is not possible to shape the world of tomorrow without a strong EU-China partnership.

However, it is time to accelerate on the very crucial areas of our relationship, to deliver on the important commitments from last Summit and address our concerns on reciprocity and the level playing field. As the European Union, we are committed to making swift and substantial progress. We count on the Chinese leadership to match our level of ambition.