Europe and China: A Strategic Dialogue

EUROPE AND CHINA

organised by Friends of Europe and the Security & Defence Agenda (SDA),

in partnership with the European Commission Directorate General for External Relations, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS), the Financial Times, and with the support of Publicis Consultants

with media partner Europe’s World

Bibliothèque Solvay, Brussels  –  Tuesday 19 May, 2009

08.30 – 09.15       Welcome & Registration of Participants

09.15 – 09.30 Welcome address by Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for External Relations and European  Neighbourhood Policy

SESSION I
09.30 – 11.00 In search of a new global order: What roles for China and the EU?

The G20 meeting in London in early April marked the start of a search for a new global economic order. Globalisation in which the rules were set by the industrialised countries is to give way to a new framework in which the rising economic powers, particularly in Asia, will have a greater say. Europe and China will be major players in this global discussion, although from very different perspectives; China as the powerful new manufacturing workshop of the world, Europe as the most successful example ever of voluntary political and economic integration to produce the richest single marketplace. How do policymakers in Brussels and Beijing see the new global order, and within it how do they see the development of EU-China relations? What can the two partners learn from one another?  

11.00 – 11.30 Coffee break

SESSION II
11.30 – 13.00 Countering the global recession: Is China an economic threat or a locomotive of growth?

Europe and the United States have both complained of China's runaway trade surpluses. But with worldwide recession looming, analysts point to the stimulatory impact that lower-cost Chinese manufactured goods have on the world economy, and particularly to the benefits gained by EU and U.S. high-tech and services companies. With some estimates suggesting that only 15% of added-value from its export industries stays inside China, how should we see China’s future role in the international economic order? And if – despite fresh efforts to relaunch the WTO’s Doha Round – protectionist pressures around Europe lead to new trade barriers might a less dynamic Chinese economy aggravate the worldwide slowdown?

13.00 – 14.00 Lunch

SESSION III
14.00 – 15.30 Making the world a safer place: Do the EU, U.S. and Chinese have shared security aims?

Security and defence policy is a sensitive issue in China, but the country’s sheer size makes it a key question worldwide. How regional is China's security thinking likely to remain when its hunger for natural resources is becoming so global? Is Beijing likely to find Europe's growing interest in defence more to its taste than the overwhelmingly superior military power of the U.S.? Do Brussels and Beijing have similar views on North-South security issues, and how should NATO and the six-nation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) work together in the years ahead?
15.30-16.00 Coffee break

SESSION IV
16.00 – 17.30 Saving the planet: Can Europe persuade China to end the blame game?

China’s top priority is to maintain its growth rate at 8%, even though World Bank forecasts see it dropping to 7.5% from its 11.9% high in 2007. How China will be able to reconcile its need for sustained and rapid economic growth with both internal and international pressures for greater environmental responsibility is far from clear, but the crux of the problem is still Beijing's belief that it should not be penalised for other countries' pollution in years past. What sort of burden-sharing deal could be agreed at Copenhagen in December that would help avert climatic disaster and also find favour in China?

17.30 End of Summit

Speakers include:

• Chen Deming*, Chinese Minister of Commerce
• Benita Ferrero-Waldner, EU Commissioner for External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy
• Bates Gill, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
• Isabel Hilton, Chief Executive Officer of chinadialogue.net, Journalist and Broadcaster
• Wei Jiafu*, Executive President and Chief Executive Officer of the China Ocean Shipping (Group) Company (COSCO)
• Hong Li, Secretary General, China Arms Control and Disarmament Association
• Nick Mabey, Founding Director and Chief Executive Officer, E3G
• James Moran, Director for Asia, European Commission Directorate General for External Relations
• Dirk Sterckx MEP, Chairman of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China and Trustee of Friends of Europe
• Pan Yue*, Vice Minister at the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection
• Lifen Zhang, Editor at FTChinese.com

*to be confirmed

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