China and EU need stable trade relations

Sino-EU relations need normal and cooperative environments, says an article of People's Daily. Excerpts:

The European Commission issued its file on its anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into steel plates with organic coatings made in China. Chinese enterprises and governments actively cooperated with the investigation, providing large amounts of detailed materials and evidence. However, the European Commission recently ruled that some Chinese enterprises enjoy high subsidies and dump their products in European markets.

This ruling seriously harms Chinese enterprises' legal rights and interests. China will not only present its written protest to the European side, but also reserve its right to seek solutions to the problem in the legal framework of the WTO.

The Chinese economy and European economy are interdependent. Neither one can be separated from each other.

Since 2009, European countries have been affected by the sovereign debt crisis. In a gloomy economy, the trade associations and labor union organizations step up their efforts to lobby the European Commission to resort to trade protectionism against Chinese companies.

The World Bank regards trade protectionism as the most dangerous factor threatening global trade recovery. Historical experience shows that trying to save a country's economy with protectionism is like trying to quench a thirst with poison.

The United States passed the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act in the crisis of the 1930s to increase its tariff level, which caused other countries to seek revenge. The oil crisis in the 1970s again fostered the emergence of global protectionism. After the Asian financial crisis in late 1990s, global anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation cases increased in large numbers, delaying the recovery of the world economy.

The European Union should be confident in itself. Despite current financial difficulties, European countries still have solid economic foundations in various fields. The EU has proved its measures to tackle the crisis have so far been effective. It is predicted the Eurozone will return to normal economic growth by 2014.

The EU is China's largest trade partner and China is the EU's second largest trade partner. Although the EU defined bilateral trade relations as a competitive partnership, the competition side should be constructive and partners should solve friction and divergence through dialogue and negotiations. Both China and the EU are in a crucial development stage, so maintaining normal trade relations is of vital importance to both sides.