Page 70 - bne monthly magazine June 2024 Russian Despair Index

70 Opinion
bne June 2024
Relations between the EU and China remain tense, but the trade between them remains signficant. / bne IntelliNews
The bilateral relations between China and the European Union are important but challenging
Bank of Finland Institute for Economies in Transition (BOFIT)
In early May, Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Europe for the first time since 2019. The destinations of the visit were France, Hungary and Serbia. According to the view generally expressed in the media, China sought to improve its relationship with Europe with the help of the trip, as China'sbilateralrelationswiththeUnitedStatesarein
a rather vulnerable state, and China wants Europe not to leantoomuchtowardstheUnitedStates'strictstanceon China.FortheEuropeanUnion,thevisitmadeitpossible
to maintain a dialogue with China, the Bank of Finland Institute for Emerging Economies (BOFIT) said in its weekly newsletter on May 17.
One of the key meetings of the visit was a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on May 6
in Paris. In their discussions, the managers discussed geopolitics, climate change and economic relations between
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the EU and China. According to the official press release of the European Commission, the discussion related to economic and trade relations focused in particular on the following three issues:
1. China'sstructuralovercapacityandstate-supported industry,
2. facilitatingChina'smarketaccess,and
3. improvingtheresilienceofproductionchains.
Although the differences of opinion between Europe and China in these matters are large, both sides characterized the bilateral relationship as significant and emphasized the importance of dialogue.
China's industrial policy, which, according to the EU's view, favours domestic companies and, due to state subsidies, leads to unfair competition in the international market, has