Climate, power politics overshadow EU-China reconciliation (Feature)

May 19, 2009, 9:56 GMT

Brussels - Reconciliation: that is what China and the European Union want to achieve in Prague on Wednesday when they finally hold a summit stalled for five months by a diplomatic row.

But the two sides are still at odds over issues such as climate change, human rights and relations with North Korea, Iran and Myanmar, making it unclear whether the summit will end with anything more than a cordial photo shoot, EU diplomats said.

'Significant differences remain to be bridged with respect to virtually all the political aspects of the draft (summit) statement,' a diplomat close to the pre-summit negotiations told the German Press Agency dpa.

Originally, the 11th annual EU-China summit was scheduled for December 1. China pulled out at the last moment in protest at a meeting between French President Nicolas Sarkozy, then holder of the EU's rotating presidency, and exiled Tibetan leader the Dalai Lama.

Under the impact of the global economic crisis, the two sides agreed in January to bury their differences and hold the summit, in a bid to show that 'EU-China relations are back at full strength.'

But ahead of the meeting between Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and the current holder of the EU presidency, Czech President Vaclav Klaus, diplomats said that the two sides were far from agreeing exactly what message their summit should give in its final statement.

The EU wants China to put pressure on Myanmar's military junta to start talks with pro-democracy forces and to release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was placed on trial on Monday for allegedly breaching the terms of her six-year detention.

But according to EU diplomats, China insists that the junta, one of its key allies in the region, is already cooperating with the opposition, and therefore wants the summit to do no more than call for 'continued' talks.

The EU also wants the summit to condemn North Korea's April 5 missile test and urge it to resume talks over its nuclear programme. China only wants the summit to mention participants' 'concern over the current situation on the Korean Peninsula,' without singling out North Korea, which is another close Chinese ally.

And the issue of Tibet is also likely to overshadow talks, as the EU wants China to commit to 'freedom of speech and the rights of ethnic minorities,' a wording China refuses to accept.

Beijing, for its part, is pushing for the EU to restate its unconditional opposition to Taiwan's independence as part of the so- called 'One China policy.'

EU diplomats say that the bloc is ready to restate its support for the One China policy, but that it will also call for 'constructive dialogue' across the Taiwan Strait and a 'peaceful resolution' of the dispute, terms China has so far rejected.

China also wants the EU to speed up the process of recognizing it as a 'full market economy,' a step which would carry wide benefits for trade and investment in the country.

But EU negotiators instead insist that China should do more to fight intellectual piracy and remove 'unfair' barriers to foreign investment and trade, demands Beijing rejects.

And while the two sides agree that climate change is a threat to both, they are still at odds over what to do about it.

China wants the EU to urge all developed states to cut their greenhouse-gas emissions to 25-40 per cent below 1990 levels by 2020, and to provide unconditional 'financial support and technology transfer to developing countries' to help control their emissions.

The EU agrees that developed countries should lead the way, but wants China to agree to 'step up its efforts' to tackle climate change and increase energy efficiency before it asks for EU help.