Zeng Peiyan: China´s New Leaders
Zeng Peiyan gave the Summit´s first keynote speech
The visit of China’s Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan was ample testimony to the Hamburg Summit’s significance to Sino-European relations. A delegation of 30 Chinese officials and business leaders accompanied Zeng to Hamburg, Europe’s most important hub for the Chinese-European trade and home to more than 360 Chinese companies. Having signed the City's guest book of honour the evening before, Mr Zeng delivered a remarkable speech to the many delegates who attended the Summit. "Sino-European relations are improving and stabilising. After all, China now conducts no less than one third of its total trade with the European Union”, Mr Zeng remarked at the beginning of his speech. The Chinese Vice Premier then provided a vivid account of his country’s economic achievements. When China embarked on its policy of openness, its economy began to develop at breakneck speed, with average annual growth rates running at 9.5 percent. "As a result, standards of living in China have improved significantly”, concluded Zeng. He then surprised the delegates with an open discourse on the "stumbling blocks” that China had to confront in the course of its rapid economic development, above all the strong social divisions between urban and rural areas. "Income levels among the rural population are only improving slowly and some 1.3 billion people still do not have sufficient access to basic social services.”
Both powers should deepen the level of technological cooperation
While he acknowledged the major cultural differences that exist between Europe and China, Zeng highlighted the many synergies between their economies and pointed out four key areas where cooperation could be further improved:
1. Europe and China should deepen their trade relations across all industries and promote cooperation at the company level. The fact that China now has a firmly-established western-style economy with "90 percent of all prices now regulated by the market” would aid this process.
2. Both economic powers should deepen the level of technological cooperation, especially in the IT, pharmaceutical, aerospace, automotive and agricultural sectors as well as in the field of renewable energy.
3. Both sides should step up discussions on facilitating direct investments in order to globalise production, raise the productivity of China’s agricultural sector, liberalise the country’s financial and insurance sectors, and strengthen its services sector.
4. Finally, the protection of intellectual property rights should be strengthened in order to create a sound basis for further improving business relations.
Zeng Peiyan bids the Hamburg Summit farewell
When asked about China’s enormous energy requirements and the threat of rising global energy prices, Zeng gave a broad outline of his country’s energy policy: "Everybody is concerned that China’s imports are boosting energy prices, especially as regards oil. However, this is often exaggerated. The demand for energy in China has indeed increased considerably, but our share of global energy consumption is not as big as some of you might believe." While Zeng stressed his country’s willingness "to cooperate with energy-producing countries to tap into new resources”, he reminded the audience that China also has significant resources of its own. "We have sufficient coal reserves for several hundred years to come. Nonetheless, the importance of coal will decline in favour of other energy sources such as gas, oil, nuclear energy and renewables." In any case, energy efficiency had now become a major priority, and coal would also have to be utilised in an environmentally-friendly manner. The recurrent question about the value of the Renminbi was answered with the utmost diplomacy. Zeng: "We want a stable Renminbi to avoid any major disruptions to our trade balance. However, we plan to streamline the exchange rate mechanism with international standards, giving due regard to our banking system as well as the interests of our neighbours and the international community as a whole.”
