EU's Mandelson Urges China to Assume Responsible Global Role

Posted 07 November 2006 @ 11:36 am EET     Print     Reprint     E-Mail     Comments

BEIJING (AP) - China must assume a level of global responsibility that matches the huge impact it is having on world trade, security and the environment, the European Union's trade chief has said.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson said it was imperative that China stand up alongside the United States and Europe to address the global challenges posed by its spectacular re-awakening instead of hiding behind developing-nation status.

"It is no longer possible for China to shut out the world or behave as if it were outside the system looking in," Mandelson told students at Beijing's Tsinghua University, according to the text of a prepared speech.

"China's decision to accept a full stake in the existing international trading and collective security system will help decide how effective those systems are or, indeed, whether they continue to exist in their current form," he said.

"We have a joint stake in managing the global economy and maintaining a stable and equitable world. And China is now in a position not only to accept new responsibility in these areas, but also to show strong leadership," he said.

Mandelson is here to meet with Chinese officials amid growing EU impatience over perceived foot-dragging in Beijing on adhering to its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments.

He was to hold talks in the afternoon with his Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai.
China's rise poses unprecedented challenges for the world, chief among these being climate change, said Mandelson, urging China to take a leadership role. He noted China's continued reliance on coal power instead of cleaner energy sources.

"A country like China that produces a new coal-fired power station every week, and will be the biggest emitter of carbon-dioxide by 2030, is a country with a central role in addressing the emergency of climate change," he said.

Mandelson referred to predictions that China will be the largest exporter by the end of this decade, saying Beijing must begin acting like an equal partner in preserving the global trade structure.

Mandelson in recent months has accused Beijing of shirking its responsibilities under global trade pacts. The EU last month issued a new policy vowing to drag China before the WTO in future trade disputes. He has called on China recently to further open its agricultural, banking, telecoms and other services sectors to outside competition.

The focus on China's commitment to WTO rules has been sharpened as December marks the fifth anniversary of its entry into the trade body and the end of the period during which most of its concessions were to be implemented.

The EU enjoyed a trade surplus with China two decades ago, but the tables have turned to a Chinese surplus that reached around 106 billion euros (135 billion dollars) in 2005, the EU's biggest bilateral trade deficit, according to the EU.

Mandelson also has said China needs to remove tariffs and non-tariff procedural barriers to European imports and better protect intellectual property rights, warning that China could face a European backlash otherwise.

"China has reached a stage in its development when the rest of the world is entitled to ask for more from China," he said late last month, when a new EU policy paper was released. China has so far withheld comment on the paper, saying it was still studying it.

Besides his meetings with Bo, Mandelson will meet later in the week with Chinese officials charged with enforcing intellectual property rights, address a gathering that seeks to boost Chinese investment in Europe and take part in a roundtable discussion on global climate change.