EU to benefit from China's "new normal" economy

BRUSSELS - The Head of the Chinese Mission to the EU Yang Yanyi on Tuesday said that the Chinese economy characterized by a more advanced stage of development, more sophisticated division of labor and a more optimized structure augurs well for China-EU business ties.

The ambassador made the remarks at the European Parliament at the meeting of the Parliament's Committee on International Trade.

"Looking into the future, EU's agenda for jobs, growth and competitiveness will stand to benefit from China's 'new normal'," she said.

Noting that the Chinese economy now had entered a new state of "new normal," China was shifting gear from high-speed to medium-to-high speed growth, from an extensive model focusing on quantity and speed to a more intensive one focusing on quality and efficiency, and from being driven by investment in production factors to being driven by innovation.

She said that China's speeding up of a new type of industrialization, IT application, urbanization, agricultural modernization, green growth, and its $10 trillion import of goods, over $500 billion overseas investment and 500 million outbound visits in the coming five years will generate greater opportunities of trade, growth, investment and cooperation for other countries and regions.

"It will surely facilitate EU's relaunch of the process of structural reforms to build the medium-term growth potential and create broader converging interest between China and the EU," she said.

She reiterated that China persists in drawing on further opening up to boost reform and development and promoting liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment.

Noting that one of the success stories of China-EU cooperation was their proper handling of "irritants", she said that guided by the principle of reciprocal and win-win, China and the EU settled trade disputes of solar panel, poly-silicon and wine through dialogue and negotiations.

"It is our belief that as the two largest economies, China and the EU should refrain from taking trade protectionist measures, remain vigilant against all forms of trade protectionism and join hands to contribute to the establishment of an open, stable, fair and rule-based global trade system," she said.

Yang added that the two sides were working closely to explore ways of facilitating exchanges for Chinese and EU citizens, including mutual visa facilitation.

Trade relations between China and the EU witnessed tremendous expansion from $2.4 billion in 1975 to $615 billion in 2014.

EU has been China's largest trading partner over the past ten consecutive years, and China is the EU's second largest trading partner. Every single day China and Europe trade more than 1 billion Euros.