THE EU and China have agreed to hold a summit in a sign the two blocs want to improve diplomatic relations following their recent dispute over the Dalai Lama’s trip to Europe.
They also signed agreements on aviation, piracy and clean energy projects yesterday at a meeting between the EU executive and senior members of the Chinese government.
“We have decided today we will soon have a new summit between the European Union and China,” said European president José Manuel Barroso at a joint news conference with Chinese prime minister Wen Jiabao at the European Commission in Brussels.
The summit is expected to be held in either April or May and concentrate on preparing a joint response to the financial crisis and measures to tackle global warming.
China cancelled a summit with the EU in December following French president Nicolas Sarkozy’s decision to meet Tibet’s spiritual leader in Poland at a gathering of Nobel Peace Prize laureates in the same month.
Beijing had warned Mr Sarkozy that the EU risked losing “hard won gains” from China by mishandling the bloc’s relations with Tibet.
China calls the Dalai Lama a separatist, blames him for unrest in Tibet last year and has tried to stop him from meeting foreign leaders. However, the Dalai Lama has for a long time stated publicly that he wants autonomy for Tibet, not outright independence.
Mr Barroso said he raised the issue of Tibet and human rights at the meeting, noting there were “no taboos” in his discussions with Mr Wen.
He said the discussions planned for this year presented an opportunity for the EU and China to strengthen “our dialogue on political and human rights issues, as a way of improving mutual understanding”.
Mr Wen praised the good relations China enjoyed with the EU, saying the two blocs needed to work together to tackle global problems in a multipolar world.
At the joint news conference he said he was “speaking from the heart” rather than from notes when he talked about his steadfast belief that the two blocs needed to build their relationship.
But Mr Wen gave no indication that China is willing to change its exchange rate policy or sign up to a global climate change deal at Copenhagen this year.
“We believe this policy is in keeping with the actual conditions in China,” said Mr Wen when asked if his government would take steps to allow the value of the yuan currency to strengthen.
The US and Europe believe the Chinese government artificially depresses the value of the Chinese currency to give a boost to Chinese exports. This makes European and American products more expensive in China and is a source of significant tensions.