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China promises new European buying sprees
44 minutes ago
By AOIFE WHITE
AP Business Writer

(AP:BRUSSELS) China promised Thursday to send its companies on new multibillion dollar spending sprees in Europe as it called on the bloc, its largest export market, to resist new trade barriers.

Chinese Vice Premier Wang Qishan told EU officials that the government will send several business delegations to Europe to repeat a February shopping trip where they spent $13.6 billion on contracts in Germany, Britain, Spain and Switzerland.

"We will send similar purchasing delegations to Europe and oppose trade protectionism with concrete action," he said at the start of two-day EU-China economy talks.

"We hope the EU side will likewise take into full account China's concerns and ... take concrete steps to eliminate trade and investment obstacles," he said. "In order to jointly tackle the current crisis ... both sides should oppose protectionism in all its forms."

China, the world's No. 3 economy, will be one of the few major nations to escape recession this year although it will suffer from plunging exports to the U.S. and the 27-nation EU.

The EU's trade commissioner, Catherine Ashton, told the meeting that Europe was committed to free trade and the fight against protectionism, saying she hoped China would join the EU in pushing for a new world trade deal this autumn that could help lift their economies.

She also called on China to open up and tackle problems that European businesses say hold them back in their fastest growing export market. Companies are keen to see China do more to clamp down on copyright goods that they claim cost them a fifth of potential revenue.

"We should seek to address imbalances in business opportunities and confirm that we all profit from further opening of our markets," Ashton said.

Wang also called on the EU to relax restrictions on exporting high-tech goods to China and help small businesses in both regions trade with each other.

He asked EU officials to understand China's "national conditions and its level of development" and the progress it has made toward opening up its market, improving safety and fighting counterfeiting.

China is looking for the EU to grant it "market economy status" which would make it easier for Chinese businesses to battle any claims from European rivals that they break global trade rules by selling goods below cost.

In the EU view, China is not a market economy because business costs such as rent and energy are sometimes paid by the government.