Enlarge imageBy Katherine Baldwin
EDINBURGH (Reuters) - Prime Minister Tony Blair flew to Beijing on Sunday to strike deals on trade, investment and climate change at a European Union-China summit that takes place against the backdrop of a spat over textiles exports.
The eighth EU-China summit on Monday will prove a delicate balancing act for Blair and EU officials as the bloc struggles to manage the emergence of an economic powerhouse with a manufacturing prowess feared by many of the EU’s 25 members.
Britain holds the six-month rotating EU presidency and Blair travels on to New Delhi on Tuesday for an EU-India summit.
Blair, accompanied by more than 40 British business leaders, will also seek to promote bilateral trade and investment at UK-China and UK-India summits.
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Contracts worth some 2 billion pounds will be signed between British firms and China and India on the four-day whistle-stop tour.
That sum includes part of a deal to be signed between European plane maker Airbus involving a "not insubstantial" amount, Blair’s spokesman said.
"It is about seeing for himself the reality of globalisation and how their economies are transforming," he said of the trip.
The EU is China’s No. 1 trading partner and China is the bloc’s second largest after the United States, while British exports to China are growing at the fastest rate among EU countries.
But the row over export quotas on Chinese garments that has led to some 75 million T-shirts, bras and other items being held at ports is just one of several thorny issues on the agenda.
EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson, negotiating in Beijing with European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, was struggling to resolve the row on Sunday.
"There are difficult balances to strike between producers, consumers and interests of free trade," said Blair’s spokesman.
Talks will also address China’s human rights record.
Activists criticise Beijing over the holding of political prisoners, media censorship, Tibet and its failure to ratify a U.N. convention on civic and political rights.
ARMS EMBARGO
The EU’s 16-year-old arms embargo on China and the country’s quest for ’market economy’ status -- which would give it greater protection from EU suits against exports sold under market price or ’dumped’ -- are also expected to feature in talks.
There will be no breakthrough on the lifting of the EU arms embargo, imposed after the suppression of China’s pro-democracy movement at Tiananmen Square, officials say.
Fierce U.S. and Japanese pressure and Chinese threats against Taiwan have held up the planned lifting of the embargo.
Blair, who will meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao, will also seek to inject political momentum into the process of granting China ’market economy’ status. China must show the EU it is fully open to imports, banks and service providers from the bloc.
Cooperation on global warming -- a priority for Blair in Britain’s presidency of the Group of Eight nations this year -- will include an exchange of technologies to cut carbon emissions, save energy and develop alternative fuel sources.
Recognising China’s diplomatic weight, officials will discuss its role in managing the nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran, seek to boost cooperation to fight terrorism and address United Nations reform.
(additional reporting by Alan Wheatley in Beijing)
