November 26, 2007
China, be warned: Mandelson may snap
Criss-crossing Beijing in the Chinese capital’s cheerfully coloured and slightly clunky taxis, it is easy to see what European Union negotiators mean when they say the Chinese give them the run-around.
Since I arrived on Sunday, I have taken, or tried to take, seven taxis. One got me to the correct destination. Two took me somewhere completely different, and four refused even to let me hop in.
My 14 per cent success rate left me feeling smaller than a terra cotta warrior from Xian, but I’ll wager it will be higher than the visiting Europeans achieve this week.
Nicolas Sarkozy, Peter Mandelson, Jean-Claude Trichet, Jean-Claude Juncker, Joaquín Almunia and the rest of them can spout till they’re blue in the face about the supposedly undervalued renminbi, but they might as well be talking to the Great Wall of China.
What is more, the Chinese have a point. When you look at China’s explosive export growth, it is difficult or even absurd to make the argument that it is all down to the renminbi’s exchange rate. Juncker says the currency is 20 to 25 per cent undervalued against the euro, but if it went up by that amount overnight, China’s export machine would still churn out vast volumes of goods at prices Europeans love.
Mandelson, the EU trade commissioner, appears to grasp that. During his visits to China, he therefore tends to dwell more on issues such as restrictions on European access to the Chinese market and poorly protected European intellectual property rights. But when he made a speech on Monday about food product safety and included some criticisms of the Chinese position, the fearsome vice-premier Wu Yi, China’s top trade official, said icily that she was “extremely dissatisfied” with his remarks.
Not all is wrong in the EU-Chinese trade relationship. How can it be when the EU is China’s biggest trading partner and when trade, measured in dollar terms, is up more than 20 per cent so far this year?
Still, when a reporter asked Mandelson how long his patience with China would last, he replied: “My patience is not exhausted, but I can no longer suffer in silence.”
China, be warned. Any more of this funny business on trade and Mandelson may snap his chopsticks in frustration.
Since China is in many respects a “maquiladora economy”, maybe the right move should to also put pressure on its suppliers, Taaiwan, Singapore, South
Posted by: john somer | November 27th, 2007 at 12:48 pm | Report this commentKorea and South Vietnam
China has an absolute zero level of democratic freedoms,no free speech,no union or assembly rights, no representation but with total taxation at will by the central government,and yet the USA and EU say:…..nothing !, but Russia and Venezuela,where their leaders got elected by a clear mayority 2 times,and the neocons can’t get their sticky fingers in, it’s bad and evil and bordering on terror state, hmmmmm! what a bunch of croc!!! when will the christian taxpayer mayority speak up ? ,demand equality,respect and send their leaders to make multi-billion dollar deals ? ,with Venezuela for heavy oil and refining,consumer goods,computers, trucks,rigs,pipes,platforms,housing, mobile communications and middle class housing goods, and with Russia with more oil and gas deals,more goods and more co-operation? when will Washington and Brussels get off from under the neocon abusive , insulting, fascist and serviant undertow and do the right thing for the global economy ? when will the christian taxpayer men stand up as such and do what needs to be done ? until when the extorsionist abuse of the neocon lobby over EU and the USA ?
2) about the Trade deals, the devil is in the details,it’s not a question of not doing global trade deals,it’s a question of making sure workers rights are respected, working conditions are mantained and loss jobs and factories are replaced with new industries.
3) when is the EU and the USA going to start the new Energy Independent Society ? with massive solar,turbines,geothermal,hydrogen fuelcells,fusion, batteries, ethanol and biodiesels,new insulation materials and composites, when ? how long this incompetent and totally corrupt “Oil and Gas Dependency” ? how long more of this energy slavery and abuse ?
4) Galileo and Airbus are the best of Europe,the future of global mobile trade-GPS-security-communications-work-
Posted by: blogger | November 27th, 2007 at 8:23 pm | Report this commentfinancial-etc., why then sell some of the manufacturing plants of EADS-Airbus in Germany,France and England to Hedge-Funds and Private Equity with Oil/gas money ? why the corrupt ignorant decisions? why not make the workers in these under-performing plants stockholders and use them to train the future engineers and assembly workers of Europe ? why not invest in Europe LONG TERM ? if the leaders in Brussels do not act about this for the EU, to you young STUDENTS AND WORKERS : VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE AT ONCE AND RUN FOR OFFICE YOURSELF !!!