News from the European Union with a focus on the South West UK and Gibraltar region and its MEPs
EU ‘has little choice but to seek to build good relations' with Communist China
Sunday, 17 February 2013
Cooperation between Brussels and Beijing “has never been deeper” and the European Union “must hope that China’s planned reforms are a success” according to the region’s Liberal Democrat MEP Sir Graham Watson.Sir Graham, a member of the European Parliament’s delegation for relations with China, has penned an article in the latest edition of the Parliament Magazine and says that “the EU, weakened by its economic stagnation, has little choice but to seek to build good relations with China, however unpalatable it finds some of the policies of the country’s ruling Communists.”
“Relations between the EU and Communist China have never been easy, but neither have they ever been as highly developed as today. Challenges of global importance, such as international trade and currency stability, world population growth and migration, climate change and energy security and even internationally organised crime make cooperation of interest to both sides.”
“The EU must hope pressure for reform within China leads to the creation of a society whose massive contribution to the development of human civilisation can be crowned by the introduction of humane and responsible policies in all areas of public life,” he writes. “Through the recently established EU-China political parties forum, dialogue between Europe’s political parties and China’s Communist party is regular and fruitful, as are the summits at heads of state and government level.”
“Last year saw two EU-China summits and there is new cooperation on energy and urbanisation. Mutual understanding has been considerably enhanced. The biggest problem remains the difficulty for understanding to develop into mutual respect.”
Click here to read his article in full.
Labels: Graham Watson
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Andrew is a UK passport holder, European citizen, and a twice former stagiaire at the European Parliament.Hailing from the truly beautiful South West region of the UK, he finds himself represented in Europe by three eurosceptic Tory MEPs, two UKIPs, and one Liberal.
While the EU in its current form is far from perfect, he is nonetheless firmly of the belief that the UK's prosperity and place in the world is best served as a member state and not as an isolated bystander.
This blog seeks to document the work that our region's MEPs do for us in Brussels. As such, predictably, it rarely features UKIP.
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