CGTN Europe discussed the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between China and the European Union with Chris Southworth, Secretary General of the International Chamber of Commerce, United Kingdom
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00:00Now, Chris Southworth is the Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce in the UK.
00:05Hello, Chris. Thanks for joining us.
00:07How would you say the relationship between China and the EU, along with Britain, has evolved in the last five decades?
00:15Well, it's extraordinary, isn't it? Just listening to the report there, I was just doing some of the numbers.
00:20I mean, the EU-China relationship is 30% of global trade.
00:24It's absolutely fundamental to the global trading system.
00:27You've got two big powerhouses who are promoters of the multilateral system, rules-based order, and open trade.
00:39And it's interesting that trade restrictions have been reduced in favor of more trade between the two blocks.
00:48So, you know, I think this is a real moment to reset.
00:52And we shouldn't forget as well that the world order has changed within that 50-year period,
00:57and China has lifted more people out of poverty than everyone else combined during that period, which is an incredible feat of humanity.
01:05So I think, you know, you've got two quite like-minded big trade economies.
01:10There are points of difference, of course, but nothing that's insurmountable, who have the potential here to create a real anchor in the global trading system
01:19and protect and safeguard the global trading system for everyone else in the world at a moment where things are pretty volatile, pretty uncertain, and very unpredictable.
01:30So it's very interesting.
01:32And in the UK's case, you know, it's left Europe in the meantime.
01:37And so I think it's interesting that we're talking about Europe, not just the EU.
01:40I think that's absolutely right.
01:42It's about Europe as a whole.
01:43The EU is obviously the engine room of Europe, but countries like the UK play a critical role in that dialogue as well.
01:50President Xi says he wants China and the EU to work together to oppose unilateral bullying.
01:57Do you think the threat of U.S. tariffs is going to bring China and the EU closer?
02:04Well, I think it brings the rest of the world closer because, you know, most economies rely on trade, depend on trade, need trade for their economies to thrive
02:15and for their citizens to be prosperous.
02:17So to have two big economies like Europe and China being the champions and advocates will be a popular move in most of the world,
02:29especially the smaller economies who don't tend to have as much of a bigger voice in shaping that global trading system.
02:34So I think it's come at a really, really important moment.
02:37There are two sort of difficult issues right now, especially for Europe.
02:42One is obviously U.S. policy that's impacting all of us, but also Russia.
02:47We shouldn't forget that, too.
02:48A stronger combined relationship between Europe and China has the ability to find a solution to this Russia challenge with Ukraine,
02:58but also energy and trade between Europe and Russia and Russia and China.
03:03China and the International Chamber of Commerce are strategic partners in the WTO.
03:08China, we know, has repeatedly accused the U.S. of violating World Trade Organization rules and laid complaints.
03:17What role do you think the WTO should be playing in all of this?
03:20Well, the WTO is the mechanism by which we negotiate the rules for trade.
03:27Without the WTO, it's a free-for-all and chaos.
03:30It's a bit like having a road system and no traffic lights or roundabouts or junctions.
03:35It's just a car crash.
03:37It's not a perfect global system.
03:39But if China and the EU and the rest of the world are at the table in the World Trade Organization,
03:45then we have the ability to find a way forward.
03:48A lot has changed since many of those trade rules have come in, including the development agenda, by the way,
03:55where there are real imbalances between the advanced economies and the emerging economies.
04:01So we've got to do that in Geneva at the WTO.
04:04I think having China there and Europe there at the table is a really powerful anchor for the rest of the world.
04:11The only way we're going to solve these big challenges is through dialogue, working together around the table,
04:17however hard that may be.
04:19Thank you so much for your time.
04:21Chris Southworth is the Secretary-General of the International Chamber of Commerce in the United Kingdom.