China, Europe see closer economic, trade ties
By Wang Junling
China and
Europe, both pulling great efforts on cooperation with each other, have been experiencing
increasingly closer economic and trade ties over the past years.
Thanks to the CHINA
RAILWAY Express (Chinese
block trains travelling to and from Europe), it only took 10 days for the four
aircraft produced by Italian aircraft manufacturer Vulcanair to be transported
from Lodz, Poland to Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
These aircraft
would be used for pilot training, sightseeing, photograph and short-distance shipment,
introduced Che Tianfa, chairman of board of Sichuan Tuofeng General Aviation
Co., LTD, the importer of the aircraft and Vulcanair’s general agency in China.
According to him,
China used to purchase most of its primary trainer aircraft from the US. After
the delivery of the first batch of the Vulcan V1.0 aircraft, the remaining
products will be shipped to China via the CHINA RAILWAY Express in partial
shipment, Che said.
It marked the
first time for the cargo trains departing from Chengdu to Europe to import
airplanes, which is also a miniature of the increasingly closer economic ties
between China and Europe.
A recent set of
data released by China’s Ministry of Commerce at a regular press conference
further indicated the sound momentum for China-Europe economic and trade
cooperation.
At present,
China is Italy’s biggest trading partner in Asia and the third largest source
of imports, while Italy remains China’s fifth largest trading partner and
source of foreign direct investment in the European Union.
Trade volume
between the two countries reached $54.24 billion in 2018, up 9.1 percent over
the previous year. This January, bilateral trade maintained growing momentum,
increasing 8.9 percent year on year. In addition, bilateral investment also
kept rapid growth and exceeded $20 billion.
China’s trade
relations with France were also on a rise in 2018. Last year, bilateral trade
volume created a record high, hitting $62.9 billion with an increase of 15.5
percent.
France saw a
high growth of exports to China in the sectors of agriculture, medicine,
cosmetics, as well as middle- and high-end garment industries.
In the first two
months of this year, the trade volume between China and France reached $10.6
billion, up 19.4 percent year on year. China’s total imports from France surged
by 42.2 percent in the same period.
Apart from strengthening
partnership in traditional fields such as nuclear energy, aerospace and
automobile, China and France are also actively expanding cooperation in
ecological protection, “silver-hair” market, finance and other emerging
industries.
Over the past
years, China and Europe have always viewed each other as significant economic
and trade partners, and their cooperation outweighed competition, said Chen
Xin, director of the economic division of the Institute of European Studies, Chinese
Academy of Social Sciences.
Countries like Italy
and France are at the forefront of China-Europe economic and trade cooperation,
Chen added.
“On the demand
side, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), focusing on policy coordination,
facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration and
people-to-people bonds, will effectively deepen cooperation in the trade,
investment, and cultural sectors between China and European economies,” Chen
noted.
“On the supply
side, China and Europe enjoy broad prospects of the Belt and Road cooperation,
as the two sides, though differ in economic structures, are highly
complementary in their industries,” Chen added.
The advantages
of many European enterprises are what their Chinese counterparts are in need
of, while in turn, many Chinese enterprises can also provide quality supply for
European companies, the director explained.
International Monetary
Fund (IMF) pointed out in the latest World Economic Outlook report it issued
this January that the global expansion has weakened. The global economy is
projected to grow at 3.5 percent in 2019 and 3.6 percent in 2020, lower
than the expectation made last October.
In the report, IMF also noted
that the main shared policy priority is for countries to resolve cooperatively
and quickly their trade disagreements and the resulting policy uncertainty,
rather than raising harmful barriers further and destabilizing an already
slowing global economy.
It is of great
significance for China and Europe to enhance economic and trade cooperation in
various fields under the BRI against such an international backdrop, Chen told
People’s Daily.
“At present, the
world economy is facing growing uncertainties,” he pointed out. If China and
Europe can continue heating up economic and trade cooperation under the BRI,
people’s confidence toward future economic development would be largely
increased, as both of the two are major players of the world economy that have
huge sizes and consumption markets, Chen explained.
Analysts believe
that in the future, the deepening economic and trade cooperation between China
and Europe will become a highlight of the world economic recovery. China’s growing
quality of economic development and larger steps of opening up will further open
prospects for China-Europe Belt and Road cooperation, third-party market expansion
and new technology development.
Source: People’s
Daily Overseas Edition
China, Europe see closer economic, trade ties
Reviewed by PEOPLES MAIL
on
13:37
Rating:
No comments: