BRUSSELS — The following is the full text of a joint statement that China and the European Union (EU) issued on April 9 during a visit by Premier Li Keqiang.
China-EU Summit Joint statement
Brussels, 9 April 2019
Introduction
1. H.E. Li Keqiang, Premier of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, H.E. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, and H.E. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, met in Brussels today for the 21st China-EU Summit and issued the following statement.
2. China and the EU reaffirm the strength of their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, their resolve to work together for peace, prosperity and sustainable development and their commitment to multilateralism, and respect for international law and for fundamental norms governing international relations, with the United Nations (UN) at its core. The two sides commit to uphold the UN Charter and international law, and all three pillars of the UN system, namely peace and security, development and human rights.
The EU reaffirmed its one-China policy.
Bilateral relations
3. The leaders reaffirmed their commitment to deepening their partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilization based on the principles of mutual respect, trust, equality and mutual benefit, by comprehensively implementing the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. China and the EU commit to strengthen cooperation, notably in the framework of their ongoing bilateral Dialogues. Both sides welcome the recently held High-Level Strategic Dialogue. In order to further expand and deepen exchanges and cooperation beyond 2020, China and the EU will adopt a new cooperation agenda by the next China-EU Summit.
4. China and the EU commit to build their economic relationship on openness, non-discrimination, and fair competition, ensuring a level playing field, transparency, and based on mutual benefits. The two sides commit to achieve in the course of 2019 the decisive progress required, notably with regard to the liberalization commitments, for the conclusion of an ambitious China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement in 2020. The high level of ambition will be reflected in substantially improved market access, the elimination of discriminatory requirements and practices affecting foreign investors, the establishment of a balanced investment protection framework and the inclusion of provisions on investment and sustainable development. Both sides agree to establish a political mechanism to continuously monitor the progress in the negotiations and to report to leaders by the end of the year on the progress made.
5. China and the EU commit to ensure equitable and mutually beneficial cooperation in bilateral trade and investment. They reiterate their willingness to enhance bilateral economic cooperation, trade and investment and to provide each other with broader and more facilitated, non-discriminatory market access. With this in mind, China and the EU will intensify work towards finding mutually agreeable solutions to a number of key barriers as identified by both parties, with a stocktaking taking place at the next China-EU Summit. Against this background, the two sides will meet as soon as possible and work expeditiously towards concrete progress through existing channels. The two sides reaffirmed the importance of adhering to international scientific standards.
Both sides agree to promote their bilateral trade in agri-food products whilst respecting international standards on sanitary and phytosanitary matters in particular the zoning principle. The two sides agreed to explore applying the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) zoning principle to trade, based on OIE analysis. Both sides are committed to expanding mutual market access for food and agricultural products in a transparent and predictable manner. Both sides will seek guidance of international standard setting bodies on the question of official certification for low risk food products.
6. The EU supports China to seek faster progress towards joining the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, and China is willing to improve its offer in an ambitious manner. China will actively push related work forward in an expeditious manner.
Both sides underline the importance of following international standards in intellectual property protection and enforcement. They will continue to work towards tangible results in the mutually agreed priority areas such as bad faith registrations of intellectual property rights, enforcement and trade secrets. They commit to ensure a legal environment in which creators, inventors and artists can license their rights on market terms and effectively enforce these rights before courts and relevant authorities.
China and the EU take note of recent progress of the negotiations of the China-EU Agreement on the Cooperation on, and Protection of, Geographical Indications (GI) and welcome the fact that provisional agreement has been reached on the text of the agreement and on protection for the majority of the GI names of each side. China and the EU commit to work together in the coming months to resolve the remaining issues, in particular in relation to the outstanding GI, which is necessary in order to be able to formally conclude the negotiations in 2019.
China and the EU look forward to the early launch of the joint feasibility study on deepening cooperation in the wines and spirits sector.
7. China and the EU welcome the signing of the Terms of Reference of the China-EU Competition Policy Dialogue and the Memorandum of Understanding on a dialogue in the area of the state aid control regime and the Fair Competition Review System, and will continue to enhance practical cooperation, so as to foster fair competition in the market for operators of all countries, including the companies of the two sides, and promote the sound growth of the bilateral and global economic and trade relations.
8. China and the EU are actively working towards signing the China-EU Civil Aviation Safety Agreement and the Agreement on Certain Aspects of Air Services as soon as possible. China and the EU welcome the holding of the 8th China-EU Energy Dialogue and signing of the Joint Statement on the Implementation of China-EU Cooperation on Energy and endorse the start of implementation of the newly established China-EU Energy Cooperation Platform. China and the EU commit to actively engage in the China-EU Mobility and Migration Dialogue and to swiftly conclude the parallel negotiations on the agreements on visa facilitation and on cooperation in combating illegal migration.
9. China and the EU reiterate their commitment to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda. Both sides will increase their exchanges on international development cooperation and explore cooperation with other partner countries in a joint effort to work for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development.
10. China and the EU reaffirm that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated. Both sides welcome the holding of their regular Human Rights Dialogue on 1-2 April 2019 and will continue to conduct exchanges on human rights at the bilateral and international levels on the basis of equality and mutual respect, including at the UN human rights mechanisms. China and the EU will explore areas for enhanced cooperation in the future, in particular in UN fora.
11. The two sides welcomed the ongoing discussions and agreed to continue to strengthen their exchanges and cooperation under the China-EU Cyber Taskforce aimed at upholding an open, secure, stable, accessible and peaceful information and communications technology (ICT) environment. They recall that international law, and in particular the Charter of the United Nations, is applicable and is essential to maintaining peace and stability in cyberspace. They work to promote the development and implementation, within the framework of the UN, of internationally accepted norms of responsible state behavior in cyberspace. They will strengthen their cooperation under the China-EU Cyber Taskforce against malicious activities in cyberspace, including on the protection of intellectual property.
5G network will provide the basic backbone for future economic and social development. China and the EU welcome progress and further exchanges in the China-EU dialogue and working mechanism on 5G based on the 5G Joint Declaration of 2015, including on technological cooperation between respective business communities.
12. China and the EU welcome the successful holding of the 4th China-EU Innovation Cooperation Dialogue. The two sides also confirmed their intention to renew the China-EU Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement.
The two sides committed to further strengthen exchanges and cooperation in the fields of education, tourism, mobility of researchers, culture, media, youth, and sport through the High-level People-to-People Dialogue. China and the EU look forward to hold the 5th China-EU High-level People-to-People Dialogue in Brussels. They welcomed the successful outcomes of the 2018 China-EU Tourism Year and committed to further facilitate cooperation between their tourism industries and two-way people-to-people exchanges.
Global challenges and governance
13. China and the EU recognize their responsibility to lead by example, pursue policies that support an open, balanced, and inclusive global economy which is beneficial to all, and encourage trade and investment. China and the EU firmly support the rules-based multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, fight against unilateralism and protectionism, and commit to complying with WTO rules.
The two sides reaffirm their joint commitment to cooperate on WTO reform to ensure its continued relevance and allow it to address global trade challenges. To this end, both sides will intensify the discussions with the aim of strengthening international rules on industrial subsidies, building on the work developed in the China-EU Joint Working Group on WTO reform. Both sides will also continue to exchange views on other mandated WTO issues.
The two sides welcome the work so far in the China-EU Joint Working Group on WTO reform. Both sides also agreed to continue working to resolve the crisis in the WTO Appellate Body and build convergence on other areas of WTO reform.
Both sides agree that there should not be forced transfer of technology.
The two sides support the work of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law on reform of the investment dispute settlement system and will engage cooperatively in that process.
14. China and the EU reaffirm their support to the G20 in continuing to play its active role as the premier forum in international economic and financial cooperation, and agree to implement G20 commitments to support strong, sustainable, balanced and inclusive growth. Both sides agree to promote the G20, in the spirit of partnership and the principle of consensus, to make more contributions in upholding multilateralism, improving global economic governance and boosting global economic growth. Both sides call on all G20 members to safeguard a free, open and non-discriminatory global trade through reinforced communication and cooperation. The two sides will work towards a positive and results-oriented G20 Osaka Summit.
Both sides agree that steel overcapacity is a global challenge that requires collective responses. To this end, China and the EU agree to maintain communication in the Global Forum on Steel Excess Capacity. Both sides look forward to a substantive report by June 2019.
China and the EU will continue to actively promote the reform process of the international monetary and financial system and to complete, at the latest at the 2019 Annual Meetings, the 15th General Review of Quotas of the International Monetary Fund.
15. China and the EU agree to intensify the efforts to develop a new set of guidelines for government supported export credits within the International Working Group on Export Credits.
16. China and the EU underline their strong commitment to implement the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol, and, given the urgency to take domestic and international action to effectively provide a global response to the threat of climate change, to further intensify their cooperation on the basis of the 2018 joint Leaders’ Statement on Climate Change and Clean Energy. China and the EU recall that carbon pricing and fossil fuel subsidy reform are key steps in this regard. In this context, China and the EU will reinforce their cooperation on green finance in order to harness private capital flows towards a more environmentally sustainable economy. Both sides will work together for a successful outcome of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and Climate Action Summits in September 2019.
China and the EU stress the importance of showing resolve on the clean energy transition and of assuming greater leadership on the global environmental agenda. Both sides will actively implement the Memorandum of Understanding on Circular Economy cooperation and promote practical cooperation between industries.
Both sides recognize the importance of cooperation in addressing global environmental challenges, including pollution and marine litter. Both sides are willing to deepen cooperation on issues such as halting biodiversity loss, CITES implementation and enforcement, combating illegal trade in wildlife and wildlife products, sustainable forest management, combating illegal logging and associated trade, as well as desertification and land degradation.
China and the EU look forward to a successful and landmark Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming in 2020. Both sides will work together for an ambitious and realistic post-2020 global biodiversity framework at the Convention on Biological Diversity Conference of the Parties hosted by China in 2020.
China and the EU also reaffirm their commitment towards the effective implementation of the Blue Partnership for the Oceans, including cooperation on promoting sustainable fisheries and fighting illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing and exchanges on the conservation and sustainable use of Antarctic marine living resources, including by the establishment of marine protected areas in the Antarctic Ocean. The two sides endorsed the Sustainable Blue Economy Finance Principles promoting sustainable investment in the oceans.
Both sides also welcome the first meeting of the China-EU Water Policy Dialogue.
17. China and the EU will cooperate to improve the economic, social, fiscal, financial and environmental sustainability of Europe-Asia connectivity and interoperability. Such cooperation should abide by the shared principles of market rules, transparency, open procurement, a level playing field and fair competition, and comply with established international norms and standards, as well as the law of the countries benefiting from the projects, while taking into account their policies and individual situations.
The two sides will continue to forge synergies between China’s Belt and Road Initiative and the EU strategy on Connecting Europe and Asia as well as the EU Trans-European Transport Networks, and welcome the agreement, in the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform, on the terms of reference for the Joint Study on sustainable Railway-based Corridors between China and Europe. The two sides will enhance communication within the framework of the China-EU Connectivity Platform.
Foreign and security policy
18. China and the EU reaffirm their intention to contribute jointly to international peace and stability through intensified dialogue and cooperation and in line with international law. They support the peaceful settlement of regional disputes and conflicts through dialogue and consultation.
On Iran, the two sides recalled that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a key element of the global non-proliferation architecture and a significant diplomatic achievement endorsed unanimously by the UN Security Council in its Resolution 2231, and reaffirm their commitment to its continued, full and effective implementation, as well as their efforts to preserve economic benefits for Iran. China and the EU recall the importance of the Arak Modernization Project, and the need to continue their common efforts in this regard. Both sides welcomed the fact that the IAEA has confirmed in 14 consecutive reports the continued adherence by Iran to its nuclear-related commitments.
China and the EU support the DPRK and the US in maintaining dialogue towards a peaceful solution, as well as the continued inter-Korean reconciliation. EU: Both sides underlined the importance of the full implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions by all parties.
19. China and the EU are committed to work together and coordinate closely on the evolving peace process in Afghanistan, which needs to be a comprehensive and inclusive Afghan-led and Afghan-owned political process that will lead to sustainable peace. Both sides also agree to support international and regional efforts towards stability and security in order to facilitate Afghanistan’s economic and social development and greater regional economic connectivity before, during and after a peace settlement.
20. China and the EU are following closely the evolving situation in Venezuela and are willing to work with other parties on a political, peaceful and democratic solution, decided by the people of Venezuela.
21. China, the EU and its Member States are parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and respect the maritime order based on international law and uphold freedoms of navigation and overflight enjoyed by all states in accordance with international law. The EU welcomes the ongoing consultations between China and ASEAN countries aimed at the conclusion of an effective Code of Conduct (COC) for the South China Sea. China and the EU call upon all relevant parties to engage in dialogue, to settle disputes peacefully, and to refrain from actions likely to increase tensions.
22. China and the EU agree to reinforce cooperation and high-level exchanges on peace, security and defense, including on maritime security and counter-piracy, support for African solutions to African problems to maintain the peace and security in Africa, and information exchange on crisis management and UN peacekeeping operations.
23. Concerning Ukraine and recalling the UN Security Council Resolution 2202 (2015), China and the EU call for full implementation of the Minsk agreements.
24. They also exchanged views on the situation in and around Myanmar.
