President Wuttke Joins CGTN’s World Insight on EU-China Ties Go back »
2020-06-25 | All chapters
On 22nd June, President Jörg Wuttke joined CGTN’s World Insight to discuss the EU-China ties against the background of the 22nd EU-China Summit.
President Wuttke said the trade potential between China and the EU is not fully untapped. He added that both had benefited from globalisation and multilateralism, so now is the time to safeguard the multilateral system. Cooperation on fighting the coronavirus, as well as WTO reform, is extremely important.
On 5G, President Wuttke said the EU wants its own two local champions, Nokia and Ericsson, to compete fairly with Huawei, but the priority is to get 5G as fast and as cheaply as possible, taking into account security issues and the needs of individual countries. President Wuttke said Huawei must prove it is capable of providing security. It has not been excluded and will continue to have a presence in Europe for the foreseeable future.
On trade and investment, President Wuttke noted that Europe is by far the largest market for Chinese products, therefore intensive trade would benefit both. He added that it is necessary to balance the investment portfolio between the EU and China. Once European companies have the Chinese market opened to them, their appetite to invest in China is obvious.
Regarding expectations for political leaders, President Wuttke stated that the EU and China need to stick together and find common ground, considering the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and challenges to multilateralism.