China-EU Resume High-Level Trade Talks After 3 Months: "Cooperate to Stabilize Global Supply Chains"

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] China and the European Union (EU) have resumed high-level trade talks after three months since April. As they seek to restore bilateral relations that deteriorated following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, they are also planning to address bilateral issues such as global supply chain problems and the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), which is currently on hold in the EU.

According to Bloomberg on the 19th (local time), Valdis Dombrovskis, the European Union (EU) Executive Vice President, and Liu He, Vice Premier of the State Council of China, held the 9th China-EU High-Level Economic Dialogue via video conference. This high-level economic dialogue between the two sides was held for the first time in three months since the China-EU summit in April.

During the talks, the two sides reportedly discussed major issues including macroeconomics, industrial and supply chains, trade and investment matters, and financial cooperation. According to Xinhua News Agency, China and the EU agreed to further promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment, encourage fair competition, protect intellectual property rights, improve the business environment, and advance bilateral opening and regulatory consultations in the financial sector.

Although there were no particularly significant breakthroughs in this negotiation, expectations are growing that the bilateral relationship, which had superficially worsened after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, will recover.

According to the Hong Kong South China Morning Post (SCMP), during the bilateral summit in April, the EU side demanded that China cease military and financial support to Russia. When China did not give a clear response, the EU expressed displeasure by indefinitely suspending the ratification of the CAI. Since then, bilateral talks had been suspended. The EU had been requesting China to redefine its relationship with Russia and planned to prepare concrete measures before summer to resume discussions, but SCMP reported that the talks were delayed as China stalled for time.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.