Mandelson warns China must open to Europe - by George Parker and Andrew Bounds
China must open its doors to European business or face a protectionist backlash, Peter Mandelson, European Union trade commissioner, will warn on Friday. He will tell an EU-China trade conference in Brussels that Beijing must enforce intellectual property rights and bring down the “Chinese wall” encountered by some European companies. “We in Europe cannot afford to be naive. China’s growth will accelerate a painful process of adjustment here in Europe.” He will warn: “Protectionist voices will be raised and if – if – the public perception is that China is closed to our trade while benefiting from our openness, then they will be impossible to silence.”
Mr Mandelson, who visited China last month, will argue that a “grand bargain” on fair trade can be made, but that China must resolve the question of the “relation between its market and its state. For every four containers loaded at Shenzen for Europe, three still come back empty. This has nothing to do with a lack of European entrepreneurialism. If these containers stay empty because the rights of European businesses are not being properly protected in China – or because they do not have proper access to the Chinese market – we will have an economic problem, then also a major political problem.”
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