BEIJING/PARIS, June 11 (Reuters) – Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing will participate, this Thursday, in a video conference organized by French President Emmanuel Macron on global economic imbalances, just days before the meeting of G7 countries in France to discuss how to deal with the waves of low-priced Chinese exports invading their markets.
Macron, who will host the G7 summit in Evian-les-Bains next week, has sought dialogue with Beijing in a last-minute attempt to adopt a cooperative approach before the European Union decides whether to tighten its trade policy toward China, French officials say.
EU leaders will meet immediately after the G7 summit on June 15-17, with China high on the agenda.
Zhang’s inclusion in the so-called “Global Convergence for Growth” videoconference, announced by a spokesperson for China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is an unusual case of China’s engagement with the G7, which brings together France, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, in addition to the EU.
Beijing has long criticized the group as illegitimate for discussing world affairs and as not representative of the global order.
There is growing alarm in Europe over China’s record trade surplus and rise up the value chain, with its exports of electric vehicles, lithium-ion batteries and other high-tech products threatening European manufacturers in what analysts describe as a “second Chinese shock” following its dominance of low-value-added industries in the 2000s.
China defends its industrial policy and rejects claims that Chinese exporters unfairly benefit from state subsidies. She claims that other countries are instead undermining the rules of global trade by imposing unilateral tariffs.
