E questa Unione Europea sbatté il grugno contro la Silk Road. Frattura scomposta.

Giuseppe Sandro Mela.

2018-04-20.

«Se i socialisti capissero d’economia, non sarebbero socialisti» von Mises

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«Twenty-seven of the 28 national EU ambassadors to Beijing have compiled a report that sharply criticizes China’s “Silk Road” project, denouncing it as designed to hamper free trade and put Chinese companies at an advantage.»

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«The report, seen by Handelsblatt, said the plan, unveiled in 2013, “runs counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade and pushes the balance of power in favor of subsidized Chinese companies.”»

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«The unusually biting contents, which only Hungary’s ambassador refused to sign, are part of the EU’s preparations for an EU-China summit in July.»

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«The new Silk Road will run through some 65 countries in six economic corridors»

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«Chinese politicians have been banging the drum for the vast project, officially called “One Belt, One Road”. They’re mobilizing around $1 trillion in what would be the biggest international development program since the US launched the Marshall Plan after World War Two.»

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«China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ will be the new World Trade Organization – whether we like it or not»

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«We shouldn’t refuse to cooperate but we should politely yet firmly state our terms»

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«They warned that European companies could fail to clinch good contracts if China isn’t pushed into adhering to the European principles of transparency in public procurement, as well as environmental and social standards.»

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Ventisette dei 28 ambasciatori nazionali dell’UE a Pechino hanno compilato un rapporto che critica aspramente il progetto cinese della “Via della Seta“, denunciandolo come destinato a ostacolare il libero scambio e a mettere le imprese cinesi in una posizione di vantaggio.

Il rapporto dice che Silk & Road va contro l’agenda dell’UE per la liberalizzazione del commercio e spinge l’equilibrio di potere a favore delle società cinesi sovvenzionate

I cinesi stanno investendo in questo progetto circa un trilione di dollari.

Lo hanno fatto senza chiedere il parere dell’Unione Europea, stanno usando denaro proprio, e continueranno iperterriti tenendo l’Unione Europea in non cale.

Chi si fosse illuso che i cinesi investissero mille miliardi di dollari in un progetto per compiacere l’Unione Europea ed i suoi “principi” dovrebbe essere immediatamente ricoverato alla neurodeliri.

Chi poi avesse avuto la allucinazione che i cinesi  si sentissero in obbligo di condividere quelli che l’Unione Europea denomina “propri valori” dovrebbe essere avviato alla eutanasia: troppo pericoloso a sé ed agli altri.

Il problema è semplice, semplicissimo.

I cinesi stanno proseguendo il loro programma ignorando persino la esistenza dell’Unione Europea.

«whether we like it or not»

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«German government papers seen by Handelsblatt indicate that China isn’t interested in transparency when it comes to procurement. Last May, when former Economics Minister Brigitte Zypries traveled to Beijing for the grand launch of the Silk Road initiative, she and other EU officials were meant to sign a joint declaration with the Chinese government. It didn’t happen. …. The Chinese refused to incorporate any amendments»

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Nota.

L’Ungheria di Mr Orban si è rifiutata di firmare questo documento demenziale.

Speriamo che in un futuro non molto lontano i cinesi ammettano gli europei alla raccolta stagionale dei loro pomodori. Questa volta si prova vergogna ad essere europei.

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→ Deutsche Welle. 2018-04-18. Report: EU countries to be straitjacketed by China’s New Silk Road

European firms could miss out on China’s $900 billion infrastructure initiative, warns a leaked report by EU diplomats. It said the New Silk Road trade corridor has the potential to disadvantage and even divide the bloc.

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China’s plans to create three huge trade corridors between Asia and Europe will likely hurt the European Union’s trade interests, EU ambassadors have warned.

In a report leaked to German business daily Handelsblatt,  the diplomats cautioned that the $900 billion (€727 billion) mega infrastructure project “runs counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade, and pushes the balance of power in favor of subsidized Chinese companies.”

Handelsblatt on Monday said the report contained “unusually biting content,” as diplomats detailed their frustration at the lack of opportunities for European firms from the New Silk Road initiative, named after China’s ancient trade route.

Report excludes Hungary

The paper was signed by the Beijing ambassadors of 27 of the 28 EU member states — with Hungary being the only exception.

New Silk Road — which is also known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) — will enable China to oversee the construction of new roads, ports and pipelines that will run through 65 countries. The initiative is widely seen as helping to cement Beijing’s position as a new global superpower.

China has promised the project will benefit all countries along its route, thanks to the greater connectivity it will allow. But its main trading partners are growing increasingly suspicious over Beijing’s strategic objectives, amid concerns that Chinese state-owned firms are set to reap most of the benefits.

“(At present) ​European companies have to compete against their Chinese counterparts, who enjoy almost unlimited credit from Chinese state banks,” Thomas Eder, a research associate at the Mercator Institute for China Studies in Berlin, told DW.

He said, even before plans for the New Silk Road have been finalized, the EU has already witnessed a decline in its share of trade with several developing countries because of large-scale Chinese investment in Asia and Africa.

Backing up the leaked report’s findings, Eder predicted that unless there is a major push for China to boost transparency in the procurement process, European access to the BRI would be “only marginal.”

He said Beijing has never hidden its ambition for the New Silk Road initiative to expand the presence and profits of Chinese firms abroad, who are encouraged to buy Chinese components and raw materials where possible.

Market access restricted

EU leaders and business executives have longstanding complaints about China’s unwillingness to fully open its markets to foreign players. Despite Chinese assurances that reforms will be forthcoming, foreign firms insist they remain at a huge disadvantage when doing business in China or bidding for Chinese funded projects.

Reaffirming the EU’s frustration, the leaked ambassadors’ report urged EU states to remain united as they pressure Beijing to open up the bidding for key infrastructure projects.

“We shouldn’t refuse to cooperate but we should politely yet firmly state our terms,” Handelsblatt cited one high-ranking EU diplomat as saying.

Damien Tobin, a lecturer in Chinese Business and Manager at London’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) believes the EU — which sits at the opposite end of the three trade corridors that make up the New Silk Road — will still benefit hugely from its completion.

He said many of the bloc’s biggest companies are also well represented in countries along the trade route, and that Beijing has always been “clear on the areas where it sees benefits from the participation of foreign firms.”

‘Opportunities exist’

“Chinese companies have developed capabilities in areas such as infrastructure construction, but EU companies retain significant advantages in downstream technologies and financing,” Tobin told DW.

Reacting to the leaked report, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said in a statement it was vital that trade and investment flow equally in both directions, and again called on Beijing to unlock its markets to foreign players.

“The success of the Belt and Road Initiative will largely be predicated on open markets, balanced trade, transparency and reciprocity,” it wrote in an email to DW.

“The European Chamber expects to see transparent public procurement processes put in place that will allow European and Chinese companies, and especially private companies, to compete on an even playing field with projects going to the strongest bidders.”

“Not doing so would likely result in funds being wasted and projects fail,” the statement said.

European unity at risk

Another concern raised in the ambassadors’ report was the potential of the New Silk Road initiative to sow division among the EU’s 28 member states, many of whom are desperate to attract new Chinese investment to upgrade their crumbling infrastructure.

“China has already succeeded on several occasions in undermining EU cohesion,” warned the Mercator Institute’s Eder.

He said Hungary’s refusal to sign the report was indicative of the benefits it is likely to receive from China’s investment in Eastern Europe, which will see railways, motorways and power plants upgraded.

He also cited Hungary and Greece’s refusal to sign EU statements critical of China’s human rights record, and following the tribunal ruling on the South China Sea dispute.

China is already facing criticism for saddling partner countries in the New Silk Road project with too much debt. Sri Lanka, for example, was forced to offer a 99-year lease on the strategically located and bustling Hambantota Port to pay down debt.

But SOAS’ Tobin believes it is not in China’s long-term interests or those of its large state-owned enterprises to see the EU’s fragile consensus torn apart.

“It is not clear that such (Chinese) investments would benefit from the uncertainty brought about by different rules on investment across different (EU) member states,” he said.

Clarity needed

Instead of taking aim solely on Beijing, member states would profit from a more unified position on Chinese inward investment, Tobin suggested.

“(It) would prevent large quantities of perhaps inefficient and speculative investments concentrating in particular regions.”

The EU’s External Action Service, which is in charge of foreign affairs for the bloc, refused to comment on the leaked report.

But in an email to DW, it reiterated the European Council’s support for the infrastructure initiative “on the basis of China fulfilling its declared aim of making it an open platform which adheres to market rules, EU and international requirements and standards, and complements EU policies and projects, in order to deliver benefits for all parties concerned and in all the countries along the planned routes.”

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→ Handelsblatt. 2018-04-18. EU ambassadors band together against Silk Road

EU ambassadors to Beijing warn that China’s Silk Road project flouts international transparency norms and is aimed at furthering Chinese interests. The paper reflects Beijing’s strategy to divide the bloc.

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Twenty-seven of the 28 national EU ambassadors to Beijing have compiled a report that sharply criticizes China’s “Silk Road” project, denouncing it as designed to hamper free trade and put Chinese companies at an advantage.

The report, seen by Handelsblatt, said the plan, unveiled in 2013, “runs counter to the EU agenda for liberalizing trade and pushes the balance of power in favor of subsidized Chinese companies.”

The unusually biting contents, which only Hungary’s ambassador refused to sign, are part of the EU’s preparations for an EU-China summit in July. The EU Commission is working on a strategy paper to forge a common EU stance on China’s prestige project to build roads, ports and gas pipelines to connect China by land and sea to Southeast Asia, Pakistan and Central Asia, and beyond to the Middle East, Europe and Africa. The new Silk Road will run through some 65 countries in six economic corridors.

“We shouldn’t refuse to cooperate but we should politely yet firmly state our terms,” said one high-ranking EU diplomat, adding that Chinese firms must not receive preferential treatment in the awarding of public contracts.

One German economics ministry official said the Silk Road initiative “must take account of the interests of all participants” and was still a long way off.

Chinese politicians have been banging the drum for the vast project, officially called “One Belt, One Road”. They’re mobilizing around $1 trillion in what would be the biggest international development program since the US launched the Marshall Plan after World War Two.

“China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ will be the new World Trade Organization – whether we like it or not,” CEO of German industrial giant Siemens, Joe Kaeser, told the World Economic Forum in January.

In their report, the ambassadors wrote that China wanted to shape globalization to suit its own interests. “At the same time the initiative is pursuing domestic political goals like the reduction of surplus capacity, the creation of new export markets and safeguarding access to raw materials,” it read.

They warned that European companies could fail to clinch good contracts if China isn’t pushed into adhering to the European principles of transparency in public procurement, as well as environmental and social standards.

EU officials said China was trying to divide Europe to strengthen its hand in relations with individual member states. Countries such as Hungary and Greece, which both rely on Chinese investment, have in the past shown they’re susceptible to pressure from China.

Whenever European politicians travel to China nowadays they’re put under pressure by their hosts to sign agreements for the joint expansion of the Silk Road. “This bilateral structure leads to an unequal distribution of power which China exploits,” their report said.

The Silk Road isn’t the only issue between the EU and China right now. Like US President Donald Trump, the EU is also fed up with the obstacles China has put up for foreign investors, including the forced transfer of know-how to Chinese partners.

But the bloc isn’t resorting to one-sided tariffs to push China to open its markets. Instead, it’s working in an investment agreement with China. Progress has been painfully slow, but the EU hopes the looming global trade war may speed up the talks. Negotiators from the two sides plan to meet this week.

One EU diplomat said China was very good at exploiting grey areas in WTO law on the protection of intellectual property, for example, and didn’t shy away from breaking rules. “When we point that out to our Chinese negotiating partners they always show a lot of understanding but in reality hardly anything changes,” the diplomat said.

In a speech last week, President Xi Jinping said the Silk Road project “isn’t a Chinese conspiracy as some people abroad claim.” China, he insisted, has no intention of playing “self-serving geopolitical games.”

However, China has yet to provide exact information on which foreign firms have so far directly benefited from the Chinese development program. The $40 billion Silk Road Fund was set up in 2014 to invest in countries along the road but it’s unclear who is eligible for investment, and on what terms.

A German study released in February by the government’s GTAI foreign trade and investment marketing agency and the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry concluded that the Silk Road project was often focused on politically unstable countries with uncertain legal frameworks. GTAI’s managing director said that around 80 percent of projects funded by Chinese state banks had gone to Chinese companies in the past.

German government papers seen by Handelsblatt indicate that China isn’t interested in transparency when it comes to procurement. Last May, when former Economics Minister Brigitte Zypries traveled to Beijing for the grand launch of the Silk Road initiative, she and other EU officials were meant to sign a joint declaration with the Chinese government. It didn’t happen.

The Europeans wanted to change much of the agreement’s wording, saying it should guarantee “equal opportunities for all investors in transport infrastructure” as well as international standards of transparency.

The Chinese refused to incorporate any amendments.