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Differences and disputes should always be settled through dialogue, not unilateral measures, for unilateral punitive measures invite a similar response from the opposing party. That's why China has always called for dialogue to resolve differences.
It is therefore good to learn that France's Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness Sophie Primas will reportedly visit Shanghai from Sunday to Tuesday to meet with Chinese officials and seek the justification for China imposing antidumping duties on brandy imported from the European Union from early October, because most of the brandy comes from France.
China also launched antidumping probes into dairy products and pork imported from the EU almost at the same time, after the bloc voted to impose "anti-subsidy" tariffs of up to 35.3 percent on Chinese-made electric vehicles, above the existing 10 percent duty on imported cars, on Oct 4, ignoring China's strong opposition.
Primas is welcome to visit China, as it will also give Chinese officials an opportunity to better understand what motivated France to support the imposition of punitive tariffs on Chinese-made EVs, and convey to her China's core concerns over the move.
Although France is only one of the 10 EU member states that voted for the tariffs, it accounts for 15 percent of the EU's total population thanks to its population of 68.2 million. In comparison, Italy and Poland, the two other major EU member states that supported the tariffs, account for 13 percent and 8 percent of the EU's population. Which means France's vote carries more weight than any other EU member that supported the move and could have tilted the results, because it requires the opposition of a qualified majority of 15 EU members, accounting for 65 percent of the EU's population, to block the proposal.
Since Italy's and Poland's trade with China in brandy, pork and dairy products is relatively negligible, France will be the hardest hit by China's countermeasures, because it is the largest exporter of brandy and dairy products to China within the EU. The French government is under mounting pressure from the liquor, dairy and meat industries at home — particularly from Cognac makers for whom China is the second-largest export market, after the United States, and the most profitable — to resolve the issue, which explains the necessity of Primas' visit to China.
Her visit will give China an opportunity to make France see reason and change its position on the EU's tariffs which came into force on Wednesday. Primas, reports say, is likely to attend the China International Import Expo which is scheduled to open on Tuesday in Shanghai, perhaps because it is a major platform from where China welcomes imports and rolls out new import policies. That's an encouraging sign indicating France's pro-trade stance when it comes to China.
Sino-French relations have developed healthily over the years, laying a solid foundation for the two sides to settle their trade disputes through negotiations. Known for its strategic autonomy, France should be well aware that the roots of the EU tariffs on Chinese-made EVs germinated in the US, as Washington kept instigating Brussels for months to target Chinese EVs and green products. That five EU member states voted against the move and 12 abstained shows the rift within the bloc on the issue, because the tariffs will slow down the EU's green transition instead of boosting the bloc's EV industry's competitiveness.
As Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during his meeting with Laurent Fabius, president of the French Constitutional Council and former French prime minister, in Beijing on Monday, setbacks in China-EU economic and trade relations don't serve the interests of either side. France should bear the bigger picture of Sino-French relations in mind and play its due role to resolve the problems faced by Sino-EU economic and trade ties not only to serve its own and the bloc's interest but also to honor the principles it stands for.
