Wen poses with Barroso (right) and Rompuy (center) during the EU-China Summit in Brussels/AFP
Premier Wen Jiabao, in opening remarks, gave a lengthy list of achievements over the past 10 years, stressing: “We do not have major conflicts of interest.”
But there was a sting in the tail when he used forceful diplomatic language to raise the issue of an EU arms embargo, imposed since the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests, and the EU’s refusal to treat China as a fully-fledged market economy and so lift all tariffs on Chinese goods.
“I have to be very frank in saying this … but the solution has been elusive over the past 10 years. I deeply regret this and I hope the EU side will take greater initiative to solve these issues,” Wen added.
EU sources had said on Wednesday ahead of the annual summit that “we have agreed to disagree” with the Chinese on the arms embargo.
The issue continues to divide EU member states and Britain notably has refused to bend to pressure from France and Spain to review the embargo.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, who is also meeting Wen, triggered fresh debate over the issue by saying in a report last year that the embargo was “a major impediment” to developing EU-China ties.
China will not get full market status until 2016 after accepting a 15-year transition period when it joined the World Trade Organization.
There was a discordant note too on Wednesday when the EU scrapped efforts to organise a press conference at the close of the summit, as is traditional at such events, after failing to agree terms with Chinese authorities.
Officials also cut off a live broadcast of Wen’s opening remarks moments before he finished addressing the summit audience.
With Wen attending his last EU summit, European Council president Herman Van Rompuy and European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso paid tributes to his role in fostering burgeoning ties over the past 10 years.
“Your role has been essential in bringing us to where we are today,” Van Rompuy told Wen in opening remarks, highlighting phenomenal growth in trade and other ties between the two sides.
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