Aerial photo taken on Nov. 29, 2016 shows a view of Lianyungang Port in Lianyungang City, east China's Jiangsu Province. (Xinhua/Han Yuqing)
China and the European Union (EU) have gone through a bittersweet year in economy in 2016, stumbling over issues, such as the anti-dumping regime and "analogue country," while continuously advancing in trade, investment and strategic cooperation.
PROTECTIONISM OVERSHADOWS TIES
Growing protectionism in Europe has resulted in mounting EU anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations against Chinese products.
Brussels' anxiety accumulated, as the continent has for years been clouded by sluggish economic growth, a lack of sufficient investment, a disappointing inflation record and a double-digit jobless rate in the wake of the debt crisis and the global financial crisis.
Facing the chronic problems, some EU countries started to vent their disappointment on China, a country which managed to maintain a medium-to-high economic growth amid an average sluggish global growth.
They claimed Chinese imports would hit the bloc's manufacturing industry, especially traditional and energy-intensive sectors, as well as exacerbate unemployment across the continent.
Though a lack of evidence left the argument untenable, the bias affected Brussels' policy making.
The European Commission imposed anti-dumping duties on Chinese steel products in October, attributing its steel sector's difficulties to China's overcapacity.
The decision came just about two months before a deadline required by the World Trade Organization (WTO) rules which demand that the EU quit the "analogue country" method in its anti-dumping investigations on China.
The move forced Beijing to launch dispute settlement procedures at the WTO.
The EU decisions threatened to overshadow the whole picture of bilateral trade ties, experts cautioned.
Anti-dumping cases accounted for less than 2 percent of the total EU-China trade and it was not worthy for Brussels to put bilateral trade ties on edge, Pierre Defraigne, executive director of the Brussels-based think tank the Madariaga-College of Europe Foundation, told Xinhua.
