Courtesy, not confrontation, best for Europe
Minister of Commerce Gao Hucheng arrived in the lobby of the European Commission's headquarters at 9 o'clock on Saturday morning. He was led to the office of outgoing Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht, who has been a thorn in the side of Chinese businesses because of his protectionist attitude ever since he took over the job in 2010.
De Gucht, 60, will be replaced in a few days by Swedish politician Cecilia Malmstrom, 46, when a newly constituted commission gets underway.
In the afternoon, the Chinese side announced a long-awaited agreement in principle: Brussels will not launch an investigation into subsidies of China's telecommunication imports into the European market. The EU side still needs to go through internal procedures for formal approval. The threat was mainly targeted at Chinese telecommunications equipment makers Huawei Technologies Co and ZTE Corp.
