Enlarge imageBy Katherine Baldwin
LONDON (Reuters) - Tony Blair leaves for Beijing on Sunday for a European Union-China summit that promises trade deals and progress on climate change, which 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.
He will chair bilateral meetings in China and India, accompanied by more than 40 UK business chiefs. Some $2 billion (1.1 billion pounds) in contracts will be signed in China, a British diplomat said.
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"It is about seeing for himself the reality of globalisation and how their economies are transforming," Blair’s spokesman said, adding Beijing would sign a deal with European planemaker Airbus involving a "substantial sum of money".
The EU is China’s No. 1 trading partner, while China is the bloc’s second largest after the United States.
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 one of several thorny issues on the EU-China agenda.
"There are difficult balances to strike between producers, consumers and interests of free trade," said Blair’s spokesman.
But the prime minister will leave complex negotiations to EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson and EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, who are struggling to resolve the row.
Mandelson said on Sunday he hoped to strike a deal with Beijing before the end of the day.
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 United Nations 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.
Co-operation 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.
Climate change will also feature highly in the EU-India summit on Wednesday and Thursday.
Recognising China’s diplomatic weight, officials will discuss its role in managing the nuclear threat from North Korea and Iran, seek to boost co-operation to fight terrorism and address United Nations reform.
Blair also aims to discuss December’s Doha Round of World Trade Organisation talks to be held in Hong Kong.
Concerns may also be raised over the level of China’s yuan currency amid concerns it is still undervalued despite a 2.1 percent revaluation in late July.
(additional reporting by Alan Wheatley in Beijing)
