Q: It is reported that Brussels will press Beijing to reduce barriers to European exports at a high-level meeting in September. European Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis said in an interview that “The China-EU trading relationship is very unbalanced. China is running a huge trade surplus, and the level of openness from the Chinese side is not the same as the level of openness from the EU side.” Do you have any comment?

A: China has never deliberately sought trade surplus. China’s trade surplus with the EU is a natural result under the combined influence of different industrial structures, industrial specialization, ways of trade and external factors. For years, the majority of EU companies in China have benefited hugely from China-EU trade. This is the fundamental reason why they have chosen to operate and expand business in China. The EU restrictions on export of high-tech products to China in recent years directly limited the EU’s ability to tap the potential of export to China and led to unbalanced trade between the two sides. If the EU truly wants to address this issue, it needs to lift export control against China, rather than putting the blame on China.