Premier Wen Jiabao’s recent trip to Europe and Central Asia is symbolic of China’s new-style multilateral diplomacy
　　While addressing a Sino-European economic summit in Hamburg, Germany, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao hailed economic relations between China and Europe. “If the China-EU [European Union] relationship is likened to a huge ship on the ocean, the business community would be its powerful engine,” he said.
　　Recognizing the “key role” that the European business community has played in building strong China-EU ties, Wen called for both sides to “move into high gear, work as one and propel the huge ship to sail forward, braving wind and waves.”
　　Chinese scholars of international studies and diplomats began to explore the significance of his trip as the premier returned home after visiting Finland, Britain, Germany and Tajikistan September 9-16. Business was, of course, high on the premier’s agenda, but the tour meant much more than that, they argued.
　　
　　Boost to business
　　
　　Feng Zhongping, Director of the Institute of European Studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR), told Beijing Review that economic cooperation is the mainstream in China-EU cooperative relations and lays the groundwork for cooperation in all other fields. It is also attracting attention as trade frictions between them have been on the rise in recent years, he said, adding that these disputes are unavoidable given the complexity of their trade relations. The EU is China’s biggest trading partner, while China is the EU’s second biggest trading partner after the United States, a fact that he believes underscores the importance of the economic and trade relations between China and the EU.
　　Trade was at the top of Wen’s priority list on his European visit, during which a number of major business deals were signed.
　　Wen and his Finnish counterpart, Matti Vanhanen, witnessed the signing of a series of deals between Nokia, the Finnish electronics giant, and Chinese customers worth more than 2 billion euros ($2.5 billion). Nokia’s Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo hailed the conclusion of the contracts as a “milestone event” for the company’s operations in China.
　　The Finnish company has so far invested more than 3.3 billion euros ($4.2 billion) in China. Last year, China became Nokia’s largest single market, overtaking the United States, with net sales growing 28 percent to 3.4 billion euros ($4 billion).
　　Three business deals were announced as part of Wen’s visit to Britain, including Air China’s $800 million agreement to buy Trent 1000 engines for 15 Boeing 787 jets. British Gas signed contracts with China National Offshore Oil Corp. for exploration in the South China Sea. The engineering group Arup won an agreement to develop a design for the new Yunnan Kunming International Airport in south China.
　　Trade is a key issue that Wen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel addressed in their talks as well. Wen said China is satisfied with the “strong growth momentum” in trade.
　　Germany has remained China’s largest European trade partner for more than three decades, and is also one of the largest foreign investors in China and one of Europe’s key technology transferors to China. According to Ma Canrong, Chinese Ambassador in Berlin, bilateral trade volume between China and Germany has grown by 20 percent annually in recent years and is expected to exceed $70 billion this year. He said the goal set by the leaders of the two countries to raise the bilateral trade volume to $100 billion by 2010 was likely to be realized ahead of schedule.

　　Statistics show Germany has invested over $15 billion in China. Notably, some 600 Chinese firms have launched operations in Germany with a total investment of over 100 million euros ($127 million), a trend that is projected to grow, according to Ma.
　　In Tajikistan, Wen called for strengthened economic cooperation within the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), an organization founded in 2001 that groups China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
　　Speaking at the fifth meeting of SCO prime ministers in Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Wen raised proposals for deepening regional economic cooperation, such as strengthening coordination in legislation and policy-making to create favorable conditions for trade and investment, promoting the construction of road networks and information superhighway projects and increasing investments for regional economic cooperation through various channels.
　　Wen said China had set a goal to expand its trade with other SCO members from the current $40 billion to $80-100 billion by 2010. He added that key areas of cooperation among SCO members should include energy, transportation and telecommunications.

　　Far-reaching implications
　　
　　According to Wang Lijiu, an expert of Russian studies with the CICIR, the SCO prime ministers’ meeting, which has been held annually since 2001, when the first meeting was convened in Almaty, Kazakhstan, mainly focuses on implementing the agreements reached at the summit of the heads of state.
　　He said the focus of this year’s meeting was to promote the implementation of the Program of Multilateral Trade and Economic Cooperation adopted in 2003. Although few new documents were signed at this meeting, Wang believes it helped to push SCO economic cooperation in the right direction. “This direction is more important than the signing of any document,” he said.
　　Wang highlighted the significance of boosting economic cooperation within the framework of the SCO. As they enjoy the benefits of economic development, people are unlikely to join terrorist organizations, rendering the foundation of terrorism shaky, he said.
　　However, business is only part of the story. Feng of the CICIR said the China-EU relationship has well transcended the boundaries of the business world. “The decision to launch negotiations on a new partnership agreement is the most concrete achievement made during Wen’s visit,” he said. “The agreement is expected to cover all areas of this multifaceted cooperation.”
　　In retrospect, Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing affirmed that Wen’s just-concluded four-nation visit was “fruitful in promoting bilateral ties and cooperation in concrete terms with related countries.”
　　Like Feng, he particularly mentioned Wen’s proposal to draft a cooperative agreement for a new partnership with the EU and start negotiations immediately on related issues. The proposal, which was welcomed by the European side, would involve various fields such as politics, economy, science, technology, culture, education, sustainable development and other international issues, he said.
　　Li commented that the proposal would establish a legal framework for a long-term, healthy and stable Sino-European relationship, and make the relationship endure time, incidents and change of leadership.
　　At the same time, the foreign minister revealed that during the visit, Wen signed over 30 cooperation agreements with leaders of the four countries on politics, the economy and trade, science and technology, culture and education, energy and environmental protection.
　　During Wen’s visit to Finland, the two countries decided to deepen their cooperation in the fields of scientific and technological innovation, investment and human linkages.
　　While Wen was in Britain, the two nations agreed to expand cooperation in key fields such as establishing a China-Britain climate change and energy working group and a high-level dialogue mechanism for sustainable development.
　　During his visit to Germany, the countries decided to maintain the annual meeting mechanism between the prime ministers of the two nations, to communicate with each other via telephone hotlines at any time and to strengthen exchanges on major strategic issues.
　　In Tajikistan, Wen and Tajik leaders agreed to negotiate and sign as early as possible a China-Tajikistan treaty on good-neighborliness, friendship and cooperation and to strengthen cooperation in the economic, trade and security fields.
　　
　　Addressing concerns
　　
　　Li also noted that Premier Wen had frankly addressed the concerns of European countries about China’s path of development, trade imbalances between the two sides, protection of intellectual property rights, energy security, as well as democracy and human rights.
　　He said Wen reiterated on various occasions that China is a responsible country. The premier made it clear that China attaches importance to sustainable development, follows a strategy aimed at a win-win and mutually beneficial situation, makes efforts to settle the energy problem at home, pays high attention to protecting intellectual property and is ready to properly settle differences between China and Europe through dialogue and consultations on an equal footing.
　　Feng said discrepancies between China and Europe on the human rights issue are only natural, as China and Europe are at different stages of social development and enjoy different levels of economic development. No country is perfect in terms of human rights protection, and China is no exception, he said. He hoped progress would be made in this regard as China faces up to its problems.
　　Asked about the EU’s arms embargo against China, the expert said the time is not ripe for resolving the issue at present. He pointed out that the EU agreed with China that the lifting of the arms embargo is more symbolic than practical. However, the United States, as well as Japan, is concerned about the tilting of the power balance when the embargo is lifted and tends to exert influence over the EU’s policies. Also, the 25 members of the EU must all agree before a resolution can be adopted, making it more difficult to resolve the issue quickly, according to Feng.
　　Wu Yikang, Chairman of the Chinese Society for EU Studies, said despite the undeniable problems in China-EU relations, there are no pressing issues that call for an urgent response. Wen’s European tour was therefore more of a diplomatic routine aimed at cementing the friendly bonds between China and Europe, he said.
　　Echoing Wu’s ideas, Feng pointed out that China has established a leaders’ annual meeting mechanism with the EU, Britain and Germany. Wen toured Europe precisely for the purpose of honoring these mechanisms. “The regular meeting mechanism will help to promote mutual understanding by allowing the leaders to communicate effectively on bilateral relations and major international issues,” he said. “It is a new feature that has stood out in China’s relations with leading powers in recent years.”
　　Pang Zhongying, a professor with the School of International Studies of the Renmin University of China, noted China’s diplomacy, especially multilateral diplomacy, is more active this year than in any other recent year, adding that the multilateral diplomacy has peaked as the year enters the second half.
　　Pang said the Chinese Government has been exploring new ways of conducting diplomacy since the end of the Cold War, and the frequent major diplomatic moves this year have embodied China’s new philosophy of promoting “harmony” in the world.

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