DW: EU Trade Commissioner Has Harsh Words for Beijing

[blackhorse]

EU Trade Commissioner Has Harsh Words for Beijing

On a visit to China, the EU's trade commissioner hasn't been mincing words. He told Chinese students on Tuesday that if Beijing doesn't allow more free trade, China could face a complaint at the World Trade Organization.

With Europe's trade deficit with China exceeding 100 billion euros ($125 billion), Peter Mandelson had a warning for an audience at Beijing's elite Tsinghua University. "Europe will defend itself against unfair trade," he said, "just as China does all the time, and just as we are allowed to do under WTO rules."

"When I went to (the southern Chinese port of) Shenzhen earlier this year," Mandelson added, "I was struck by the fact that for every four containers leaving China for Europe, three were returning empty." But he also stressed that the EU had no plans at present to haul Beijing in front of the WTO.

<snip>

Mandelson also called upon Beijing to peg the Chinese currency, the yuan, to other currencies beside the US dollar and to crack down on rampant copyright infringements. Pirated Chinese versions of products like CDs and DVDs were "a ball and chain on European competitiveness," Mandelson said.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2229651,00.html

[rockymountaindem]

1. Why is it taking other countries so long to realize

that China is unfairly exploiting trade rules? Why have they been allowed to leave their currency so undervalued in our supposedly free trade system? Why have they been nearly exempt from copyright infringement complaints? I'm still waiting for answers from our government, but it's nice to see that Europe is coming to its senses.

[FormerDem06]

3. China is just building it's war chest....

I really believe that the Chinese will do this for about 20 more years and then use all of the money that they've amassed to start acquiring natural resources the old fashioned way -- by taking them and land from other countries.

The Chinese are famous for their plans that span 30-50 years and beyond. This is just another one of those.

[Tempest]

5. That doesn't make sense considering...

How China is making strategic partnerships with resource rich countries.

Isn't that contradictory to your claim?

Your view of China is stuck in a time warp.

[FormerDem06]

6. Time will tell.....

As China, the US, India et al start to need said resources it will get interesting. My view of China is based on a degree from UNC Greensboro in History with a focus on China over the last thousand years or so (up until I graduated in 1995).

Things do change, but a country of 2 billion people pursuing capitalism need to have the beast fed. Picture the USA times 6. It's going to get ugly in long run I'm afraid.

[Tempest]

7. China has adapted to the current times

China is sitting pretty when it comes to obtaining the resources.

They're sitting on $600 billion U.S. dollars no other country has to use as leverage. And the amount is increasing by $30-$40 billion a month.

Recently, when it came time to make strategic economic partnerships, the EU didn't turn to the U.S. They turned to China. So did Indonesia (the second fastest growing economy in the world behind China). So did Saudi Arabia, which has had an almost exclusive economic partnership with the U.S.

Much has changed since 1995. Here's a few good primers to get caught up:

http://tinyurl.com/ymwelm
http://tinyurl.com/yfqc8z
http://tinyurl.com/yye7fa (the entire series really)

The first and third one is a must read for anyone who wants to understand China's current economy and the future.


It's going to get ugly, but not for China. They're in the cat bird's seat. The only way the U.S. will be able to compete for natural resources in the future will be through military conquest (which is the goal of PNAC). And that's not working out so well in the tiny country of Iraq, is it?

Not only are things going bad for the U.S. in Iraq, but Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran are all making partnerships with China and Russia which will make the U.S.'s position in the Middle East all that more weaker.

That leaves just the South America region for the U.S. to conquer for resources. Except that those countries are thinking ahead and making partnerships with China (and Russia) as well.


All in all, China is not the one who will need to resort to military means to obtain resources, the U.S. will be. And China, not to mention the rest of the world, will be in a position to counter anything the U.S. throws out.

[Tempest]

4. What about Bush undervaluing the U.S. dollar?

Funny how the EU or U.S. doesn't want to talk about that.


China exempt from copyright infringement complaints? Every time U.S. representatives make a public statement about China, copyrights are ALWAYS mentioned. The WTO mentions them frequently as well.

http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2005-12/2005-12-06-voa8.cfm

[Deja Q]

2. Microsoft rewards Chinese software pirates by giving them source code.

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6130819.html

See what happens when Bill Gates leaves the building?