Experts call for free trade alliance

Leading Chinese think tank experts have asked Beijing and Brussels to forge an alliance to defend multilateralism and globalization as the United States escalates trade tensions with China.

"We are clearly requesting the European Union to stand together and be our allies in defending multilateralism and globalization," said Wei Jianguo, vice-chairman of the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, an influential Beijing-based think tank, in Brussels on Monday.

Wei sent the message at a seminar in Brussels hosted by Bruegel, a well-known think tank, with the theme Peril and Potential: China-US-EU Trade Relations.