China wants partnership with EU to counter US 'abuse', says envoy to Spain

By David Latona

MADRID (Reuters) - China wants to deal with the European Union as a partner instead of a rival, its ambassador to Spain said, amid shifting geopolitics and Washington's new trade policy which he described as unilateral economic abuse.

Yao Jing told Reuters the EU's 2019 strategy that defined China as its "partner for cooperation, economic competitor and systemic rival" made little sense as both championed open markets and rules-based trade.

"We should put our focus on partnership. China will never be a threat or any kind of enemy to the EU," Yao said, praising the bloc's multilateral approach to foreign affairs, as opposed to President Donald Trump's isolationist agenda.

Last week, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez met with President Xi Jinping in Beijing. The visit was widely seen as a bid to forge closer economic and political ties between China and Europe amid the fallout from Trump's tariffs.

Just before Sanchez's trip, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that moving closer to the Asian country would be "cutting your own throat", a comment dismissed by Madrid.

Yao said he was shocked by Bessent's remarks, adding that the U.S. "in fact cuts everyone's throats" with its unilateral tariffs.

"And this is why China is firmly against this kind of economic abuse by the United States," he said.

'OPEN DOOR'

Yao said Europe should drop its export controls on certain high-tech products, including semiconductors, as well as tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) and limitations for Chinese companies such as Huawei or ZTE to access Europe's 5G network.

Beijing, in its turn, has been opening up sectors such as telecommunications, banking or manufacturing for foreign investment, he said.

Yao said the EU's trade deficit with China, of around $345 billion last year, could not disappear overnight due to structural issues, but expected gradual progress.

"We've made it very clear that China will open its door with the passage of time, and this door will never be closed. We're ready to open our market to other EU members, like we just did with Spain," he said.

The two countries agreed on Friday to allow Chinese market access to Spanish pork stomach - a product widely consumed in China but not previously authorised. Some analysts saw it as a signal Beijing might ease its anti-dumping inquiry into EU pork, launched last year in retaliation for EU tariffs on Chinese EVs.

Yao said the probe was ongoing but there was a willingness to address differences through negotiations.

(Reporting by David Latona; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Toby Chopra)