Prospects of an inaugural meeting under the China-EU trade and investment consultation mechanism, scheduled for next week, have become increasingly uncertain despite intensive working-level consultations, a Ministry of Commerce source told China Daily on Friday.
The uncertainty stems from the European Union's increasingly protectionist stance toward China and its failure to make any progress in addressing China's core economic and trade concerns, the source said.
According to the source, working teams from both sides had been talking from early this month through last week, engaging in extensive discussions on bilateral economic and trade issues in preparation for the inaugural meeting.
However, while the EU continued to press China to address its concerns over export controls and market access, it refused to correct its protectionist measures against China, showed no sincerity in responding to China's concerns and took no concrete actions.
Although China made clear that it would take countermeasures if the EU introduced new trade or investment restrictions that harmed Chinese interests, the EU paid little heed to the warning. Such actions have cast doubt on whether the inaugural meeting can produce substantive outcomes, the source said, adding that the EU's recent actions have further fueled concerns that bilateral trade frictions could intensify.
