China becomes EU's largest trading partner: Going against the trend in the "worst time"

(International Observation) China has become the largest trading partner of the EU: going against the trend in the "worst time"

　　China News Service, Brussels, February 17th, title: China becomes the largest trading partner of the EU: Going against the trend in the "worst time"

　　China News Agency reporter De Yongjian

　　At the end of the year, Zhang Ming, head of the Chinese mission to the European Union based in Brussels, reviewed China-EU relations in 2020, often quoting the famous British writer Dickens's famous saying, "This is the best time, this is the worst time." Or use the Chinese philosophy of "seeing opportunities in crisis" to point out that China-EU relations will go against the trend in 2020 and "turn crisis into opportunity" under the epidemic.

　　This statement is true.

On February 15th, Eurostat announced that China will surpass the United States to become the EU’s largest trading partner in 2020. The EU’s imports to China totaled 383.5 billion euros for the whole year, an increase of 5.6% over 2019, and the total exports to China totaled 202.5 billion euros. This is an increase of 2.2% compared to 2019; and in 2020, the EU's total imports of goods to the United States are 20.2 billion euros, a decrease of 13.2% from 2019, and the total exports to the United States are 353 billion euros, a decrease of 8.2% from 2019.

　　In fact, this "reverse overtake" was achieved as early as last summer. At that time, as China's economy stabilized, the total volume of imports and exports between China and Europe in the first seven months of 2020 exceeded the total volume of imports and exports from Europe and the United States for the first time. China began to become the largest trading partner of the EU. Maintain the leading position until the end of 2020.

　　Whether China can become the EU’s largest trading partner for a long time is obviously too early to draw conclusions. However, in 2020, China-EU trade can grow against the trend under the epidemic, which shows how huge the potential of China-EU economic and trade cooperation is; The total value of export commodities "does not fall but increases". Among the major trading partners of the EU, only a few countries such as China, Turkey and South Korea have achieved this.

　　In recent years, the Chinese government has repeatedly emphasized that "China will only open its door wider and wider." Last year, it proposed to accelerate the construction of a new development pattern with the domestic cycle as the main body and the domestic and international dual cycles mutually promoting each other. However, some Europeans speculated about China. Whether these arguments are true or not, whether they will "close the country" or claim that China's opening up will cause "commitment fatigue", the EU's total exports to China in 2020 will provide the most straightforward answer.

　　On the other hand, affected by the epidemic, the EU once imported a large amount of anti-epidemic materials from China in 2020. In the first eight months, the EU imported masks to China accounted for 92% of the total imports, and imported ventilators to China accounted for 62% of the total imports. Out of the "dependency theory" of China-EU economic and trade, the EU believes that the EU is too dependent on China's supply chain and that key industries such as medicine should be moved back to the EU or neighboring regions.

　　However, the two-way growth of imports and exports between China and Europe in 2020 proves that this argument is untenable.

Statistics show that although the European Union imports a large number of ventilators from China, many of the core components of ventilators produced in China are imported from the European Union; it is precisely relying on equipment and raw materials imported from China that the production capacity of German mask manufacturers has been greatly increased and increased Has improved the supply of EU anti-epidemic materials.

　　The strong demand in the Chinese market has also created huge benefits for EU companies.

Take the automotive industry, the core industry of the European Union, as an example. Under the background of a deep recession affected by the epidemic, the Chinese market has become a rare growth point in 2020. BMW's new car sales in China increased by 7.4% compared with 2019, a record since it entered the Chinese market in 1994. The best sales record, sales in the European and American markets decreased by 15.7% and 18% respectively.

　　Imports and exports of China and Europe have grown against the trend, and the new momentum of the two sides is also "gathering momentum."

In 2020, China and Europe will sign the Geographical Indications Agreement to complete the negotiation of the investment agreement; the China-EU Geographical Indications Agreement has come into effect, and the China-EU Investment Agreement will accept the draft text for verification. After that, China and Europe will discuss the specific time for signing the agreement.

　　Between "contrarian" and "gathering", China and Europe will continue to be tested by the epidemic in 2021.

Previously, China’s State Councilor and Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi looked forward to China’s diplomacy in the new year and addressed China-EU relations with “mutual understanding, mutual understanding, and equal consultation”. How can China and the EU join hands to help the current downturn in the world when the “worst time” is not far away The economy brings more benefits, which is to be seen.

(Finish)