EU ambassador to China calls their ties key in a globalizing world where no power will be big enough to go it alone

In May 1975, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut was in the United States preparing his master's thesis when China and the European Union established diplomatic relations. Today, he is the EU's ambassador to China.

Since then, he says the two sides have made significant moves such as signing trade and cooperation agreement 10 years after inaugurating ties.

Other milestones include upgrading the relationship to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2003 and, in 2013, adopting the EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation. The agenda is a roadmap for relations to the end of the decade, with a focus on peace, prosperity, sustainable development and people-to-people exchanges.

"In addition, the first visit by a president of China to the EU's institutions, that of President Xi Jinping in March last year, shows the importance that China attaches to our relations," says Schweisgut in an interview with China Daily.

"In the coming years, we must work hard to keep the momentum going and realize our true potential."

Asked how the relationship will look in a decade, after 50 years of working together, the ambassador says he hopes to see much closer cooperation on strategic questions relating to important global issues.

"I don't think that any power will be big enough in a more globalized world in 2025 to go it alone," says Schweisgut.

He says Beijing and Brussels will be collaborating much more closely on a whole range of issues relating to security, terrorism, cyberspace, the environment and climate change, as well as international trade and the economy.

From a bilateral perspective, trade in goods has provided enormous mutual benefits, but he says that now the challenge is to exploit trade in services and investment, two areas of vast, untapped potential that he hopes will be realized well before 2025.

"The EU and China should also be key stewards of multilateral trade institutions - fundamental tools in a multipolar world," says Schweisgut.

"In addition, the EU and China should join forces with third countries in regional initiatives that generate sustainable growth and geopolitical stability."

Schweisgut also pins high hopes on relations between the peoples becoming wider and deeper, through cultural and educational exchanges and travel and tourism, as they now increasingly spend more time communicating in cyberspace. He says a free, unfettered Internet, especially in terms of social media, can only help to deepen exchanges between the people.

Schweisgut says both sides should not lose sight of the fact that the EU-China partnership is comprehensive and strategic, which he believes is a huge ongoing project in itself.

"There are a multitude of areas of existing cooperation that affect the daily lives of our peoples and contribute to peace, stability and prosperity. We need to keep this positive momentum," he says.

He has pointed out some priority areas such as environment and climate change, connectivity, urbanization partnership and innovation, and research and development. They also provide an impetus to negotiations on the proposed Comprehensive Investment Agreement.

"Of all these, perhaps the most pressing is the environment and climate change," he says.

Another factor is the international climate pact expected to be signed in Paris at the end of this year, setting out climate action starting in 2020. Schweisgut says he thinks the pace will herald a new era of enhanced multilateral climate cooperation and enhanced cooperation between China and the EU to meet emissions reduction targets.

In the face of important environmental challenges, such as air, water and soil pollution, he says it makes sense to step up cooperation on the new, clean technologies of the future.

In the area of trade, Schweisgut says two issues stand out. The first is negotiating an ambitious agreement that comprehensively opens up market access and protects investment between the EU and China. If successful, it could eventually lead to a broader free trade agreement.

The second issue is giving a firm boost to the World Trade Organization's central role in governing global trade, as well as working together on the conclusion of the Doha Development Round by the Ministerial Conference in Nairobi in December. The Doha round is the current WTO trade-negotiation round, aiming to lower trade barriers.

"Success in these negotiations would truly be a game-changer for our relationship and open up many mutually beneficial possibilities," he says.

Schweisgut says the European Union's Investment Plan is an ambitious initiative to unlock public and private investment in the real economy, such as energy and transport infrastructure, worth at least 315 billion euros over the next three years.

"From the start, the EU has made it very clear that it welcomes foreign participation in this plan and in particular China's," he says. "The Chinese government has also expressed interest, and both sides have started discussions in that direction."

For decades, EU funds have financed transport infrastructure, both within and outside its borders, because the EU believes there is a clear link between transport connectivity and economic development.

With Xi putting forward the concept of One Belt, One Road, Schweisgut says greater connectivity between the EU and China, and between all the countries along the way, would be a step in the right direction, especially for those who do not have direct access to international trade routes. The Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road initiatives are inspired by ancient trade routes.

(China Daily European Weekly 05/01/2015 page10)