EU to look more to China: chamber

At his chamber's annual Chinese New Year celebration in Brussels on Thursday, Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, said that China and the European Union will forge a closer economic partnership to cope with new challenges posed by the new US administration. [Photo by Fu Jing/China Daily]

Europe is expected to forge more free-trade deals with Asian economies such as China to cope with rising protectionism and new challenges brought by the new US administration led by Donald Trump, a leading European business leader said on Thursday.

"Donald Trump's taking office as president of the United States is bringing new challenges for China and Europe," said Bernard Dewit, chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce, at the annual Chinese new year celebration in Brussels.

"With a more protectionist US policy illustrated by the US withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, the correct response from Europe is not to condemn President Trump's decision but to accelerate the EU's own free-trade deals with Asian countries like China."

Dewit said: "We must not see China as a threat or an enemy but as a partner. We shall have much more to win."

Dewit, citing what European Council President Donald Tusk recently said, said that threats to the EU are more linked to the bloc itself with the rise of anti-EU, nationalist and increasingly "xenophobic" sentiment in the EU.

Dewit said the China-led Belt and Road Initiative and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank provide opportunities not only for the immediate neighbors of China but also for the European economies.

At the same time, he said China's global outbound foreign direct investment has jumped to almost $200 billion in 2016, and the European Union continues to be a favorite destination for Chinese investors.

Dewit said Chinese investors are eyeing a broad range of industries but showed particularly strong interest in technology and advanced manufacturing assets, while Germany and the United Kingdom have accounted for more than half of the total inbound Chinese investment in Europe last year.

"This means that Belgium can still do better to attract more Chinese investors," Dewit said.

Dewit said the excellent political relationship between the two countries will help bring more economic deals, taking the examples of the visit of Prime Minister Charles Michel last October to China and the meeting between President Xi Jinping and the Belgian King Philippe at the annual meeting of World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

At the reception organized by Dewit's chamber, Qu Xing, Chinese Ambassador to Belgium, said that both Belgian and Chinese businesses have showed a great interest in deepening the bilateral economic relationship in recent years, and trade volume has been rising, though global trade activity has slowed.

"In recent years, Chinese investors have launched a growing number of new projects in Belgium, and some of them are in non-manufacturing sectors such as insurance and finance," said Qu. "Relying on highly qualified professionals in Belgium, the Chinese companies have been localized."

Qu said China's efforts in restructuring the economy and realizing green and sustainable development will be creating more cooperation opportunities for Belgium and other European countries.