China’s presence is visible in Europe through its purchases of bonds as well as large scale investments, the EU’s trade chief said yesterday.
“China’s presence in Europe is visible across the board whether in China’s recent purchase of several hundreds of millions of euros of government bonds in the eurozone, particularly Spain or Greece, or in other large-scale investments too, such as the acquisition of Volvo by the car maker Geely,” European Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said.
Speaking at the Shanghai World Expo, he said he was confident Europe’s salvage package for 860 billion euros (US$1.097 trillion), has been very effective in easing the sovereign debt crisis.
“I am quite confident that the euro is in good shape again,” he said.
GOOD DEAL
The trade chief added that the eurozone bonds China had been buying from Spain and Greece were a good investment and would keep their value.
He estimated that China had spent about 420 million euros buying Spanish and Greek bonds, but could not confirm it.
“There is no risk at all to the Chinese treasury,” he said.
Global concerns over China’s protection of intellectual property has flared up in recent months and De Gucht said European companies were becoming increasingly worried.
Indigenous innovation policies, where China encourages government departments to buy locally made products from Chinese companies, would force European firms to register as a Chinese company to get access to the public procurement market.
RESPONSE
However, De Gucht said China had already started to respond.
“Some changes were made to the indigenous innovation legislation that is certainly accommodating to a certain extent some European worries,” De Gucht said.
China has revised its offer to join the WTO’s government procurement agreement. De Gucht said the opening up of the public procurement market would help resolve the ongoing Doha saga if a substantial package was reached.
“The proposal that China has been putting on the table is largely insufficient, so we think additional offers should come on the table,” he said, without specifying what they should be.
Access to China’s raw materials is a hot topic in Europe and De Gucht said the current case the EU had against China was a case they would win at the WTO.
“We have a lot of understanding that a fast-growing economy needs a lot of raw materials, but it is not the right way because it creates monopolies which distort the market,” De Gucht said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique