As premier heads to Europe, China says resolute about opening its market

BEIJING, May 27: China is determined to open its market and is positive about promoting talks on a China-EU investment agreement, a senior Chinese official said today ahead of Premier Li Keqiang’s visit to Brussels for a summit with the European Union.
The EU-China summit on June 2 will be the first since the election of US President Donald Trump that has united the two economic powers against global warming and trade protectionism.
China asked that the annual summit, normally held in mid-July, be brought forward to press home President Xi Jinping’s defence of open trade at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, in response to Trump’s protective stance.
One big outstanding issue involves an investment pact that Beijing and Brussels agreed to negotiate in 2013 to make it easier for European businesses to work in China but which has yet to be sealed.
That is seen as a forerunner to a future free-trade accord.
(Reuters)