After China launched an anti-dumping investigation, five French companies expressed their willingness to cooperate with China's investigation. At the same time, the French ambassador to China claims that Europe deals with China on the basis of its own interests, and that a strong Europe is beneficial to China.
French Ambassador to China Magnitus Blanc
With the EU's so-called countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles exported to Europe, there have been some minor twists and turns in the EU-China trade relationship, in which France has played an important role.
However, the recent statement by the French ambassador to China, Bai Yutang, sent an unusual signal.
According to the Hong Kong media "South China Morning Post", French Ambassador to China Bai Yutang said in an exclusive interview with the newspaper that France and Europe are dealing with China based on their own interests, and also said that "a sovereign and strong Europe" is beneficial to China.
This statement clearly meant something. He stressed that France and Europe are "dealing with China based on their own interests", which is actually an indirect response to China's concerns that the EU is being manipulated by the United States.
French President Emmanuel Macron
To put it bluntly, previously, European Commission President von der Leyen announced in a false name that it would conduct a countervailing investigation on electric vehicles exported by China to the EU, but this is obviously a bone in the egg, cooperating with the United States to suppress and contain China's related industries.
On the one hand, the claim that China is providing subsidies to industries such as electric vehicles, allowing Chinese electric vehicles to enter the EU market in a cheap way is simply nonsense.
The reason for the sharp increase in China's electric vehicle exports is due to the cost performance, which comes from China's well-established and strong domestic manufacturing industry, as well as low human resource costs, and has nothing to do with the so-called "large-scale subsidies".
There are two main reasons why the EU is targeting Chinese electric vehicle companies in the name of "countervailing investigations".
China's EV exports
The first is the uneven distribution of economic benefits within the EU. Specifically, in the field of automobile manufacturing, Germany, the pillar of the EU economy, has a huge trade with China, and German cars make a lot of money in the Chinese market.
The EU is a whole, Germany is part of the EU, and now China's electric vehicles are exported to the EU, which is equivalent to the export of German cars to the Chinese market, which is a good thing for mutual benefit and win-win.
The problem is that France's domestic automobile manufacturing industry is not as developed as Germany's, and their cars are exported to the Chinese market relatively rarely, and the current EU market is mainly produced by French companies with relatively low prices.
In this context, a large number of Chinese electric vehicles have entered the EU market, which has actually put French auto companies under pressure. For this reason, France is actively pushing the EU to launch a so-called "countervailing investigation" on Chinese electric vehicles.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen
On the other hand, due to the manipulation of the United States within the EU, some politicians often do not focus on Europe's own interests when promoting the implementation of relevant EU policies, but are vassals of the United States and take the interests of the United States as the core.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen's announcement of a countervailing investigation into Chinese electric vehicles exported to the EU is not unrelated to the impact of the United States.
In this context, the French ambassador to China is now emphasizing that the choices and policies made by the EU are based on European interests, which is actually implying that the EU is independent and not subject to the United States, and as long as China and the EU can reach an agreement, then the EU does not insist on suppressing and containing China's demands like the United States.
In an interview with Hong Kong media, the French ambassador to China, Bai Yutang, also said that a "strong Europe, an independent Europe" is also a good thing for China. Objectively speaking, this is not wrong, because many emerging countries are currently under the hegemonic blockade of the United States, and they have encountered many artificial obstacles to their development.
French President Emmanuel Macron, US President Joe Biden
If we can promote the complete formation of a multipolar pattern, break the pattern of US domination of the world, and use China-EU trade and even trade between China and other regions to hedge against the risk of US blockade and containment of China, it will also be beneficial to China's own development, which is precisely the root cause of China's current active development of trade relations and diplomatic relations with the EU.
On the other hand, if Europe is to get rid of the manipulation and influence of the United States and truly become a pole in a multipolar world, the EU itself will be the first to help.
At present, the EU is deeply affected by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the inflation crisis, essentially because it has been exploited by the United States. Trade and diplomacy with China are essential for the EU to become independent.
In short, the relationship between China and the EU is mutual, and it is not a "gift" from one side to the other. Taking France as an example, although they export relatively few electric vehicles to China, France exports luxury goods and alcohol products to China, including Airbus aircraft, which make a lot of money from the Chinese market.
French Airbus aircraft
It can't be said that your French companies make money from the Chinese market is free trade, and if Chinese companies want to export cars to France and even the EU, they will be labeled as "trade subsidies", which is unreasonable.
The French ambassador to China stressed that Chinese and French companies should be treated the same in each other's markets, and that was right. But it is not possible to demand only China and not France.
For example, in the case of brandy, China has launched a countervailing investigation into brandy originating in France at the request of domestic brandy companies.
However, two days ago, when Wang Wentao, the mainland's minister of commerce, had a discussion with companies related to the French brandy wine industry in Paris, he publicly said that our countervailing investigation is not aimed at any specific country and does not preset the results.
The head of the French company expressed his stance on China
In effect, this means that we are willing to give French companies a fair chance to compete in the market. And these French companies also promised in person that they would cooperate with the mainland's investigation.
In this regard, the heads of the five French enterprises have expressed their stance to the Chinese side in person, saying that they are willing to actively cooperate with China's anti-dumping investigation of EU brandy.
This is a very transparent, fair and objective investigation. On the other hand, the EU's "countervailing" investigation of emerging industries such as electric vehicles on the mainland is a bit nameless.
Regardless of the results of the survey, the original intention of the survey was for political purposes, so how could this be beneficial to the development of trade between the two sides?
EU-China relations
To sum up, although the French ambassador to China is right, Chinese and French companies should be treated fairly and reciprocally. However, the relevant requirements should not only be put forward to China, but also to France and the European Union, and whether they have given Chinese companies and their goods a fair and equal status when they enter the European market.
Only when both sides go in the same direction and treat each other's enterprises well can mutual benefit and win-win results be achieved. Otherwise, it will not last long without China's goodwill towards French companies and products, and without France's goodwill towards China.