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2006-11-08 | All chapters

EU Trade Chief Mandelson Tours China
China Radio International, 8th November 2006

Click here to listen to this report on CRI's website.

They both are considered players of increasing strength and prosperity on the world stage. China, the world's largest developing country, and the 25-state European Union, the world's largest trading bloc, are developing a larger stake with one another as the years move on. Yet trade disputes between the two also keep flaring up, most recently including shoemaking and auto parts. So now that EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is kicking off his five-day China tour, there's little doubt that the main thrust of the trip is to iron out trade disputes and develop closer ties with China. Ni hao, you're listening to People In the Know, China's only English-language political current affairs program, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  In this edition of our show, we'll talk about Peter Mandelson's current trip in China and the overall EU-China trade relationship. So let's get started.

EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson is scheduled to attend a two-day China-EU investment and trade fair on Thursday in Chengdu, the capital of Southwest China's Sichuan province.  So first to give us an on-the-ground assessment of the investment by European companies in China, we're joined by Mr. Giorgio Magistrelli, Secretary General of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

And after we take a short break, we'll learn more about China-EU trade by talking with a European policy analyst.

Ni hao, you're listening to People In the Know, CRI's daily political current affairs program, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  I'm Paul James in Beijing.  In this edition of our show, we're talking about EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson's current China tour. Since 2004, an enlarged European Union has become China's top trading partner and China remains the EU's second-largest trading partner, after the United States. To talk more about China-EU trade and policy, we are now joined by Mr. Axel Berkofsky, a senior policy analyst with the European Policy Centre.