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The Sting continues its exclusive live coverage from the World Economic Forum 2015 in Davos with a critical piece on China. Yesterday afternoon all the panelists took their seats to participate in what was to become a fresh revealing dialogue on Chinese investment around the globe. The panelists of the session were Mr Cai Jin-Yong, Executive […]
The 10th Asia-Europe meeting (ASEM) in Milan, Italy, concluded last Friday after two full days of work. The meeting was established in 1996 and it has since become a key forum for new cooperation proposals between Europe and Asia. Russia-Ukraine question has probably been the this edition’s hottest topic under the spotlight, as Milan summit […]
Last weekend the much anticipated G20 Finance Ministers’ and Central Bank Governors’ meeting happened in Cairns, Australia. It was very supportive and positive as far as the implementation of the necessary measures to boost the global economic growth in terms of GDP by an additional 1.8 per cent till 2018. This will be done through investments […]
This hot, rich summer 2014 is approaching its end, but it seems like a hot fall is awaiting already. Google’s antitrust case is still a big question for European regulation on competition, but another case might be giving a big shake to the whole scene. Reuters recently reported that Qualcomm, the world’s No. 1 mobile […]
Chinese diplomacy delivered a good lesson to Europeans with the official visits of Premier Li Keqiang to Britain and Greece last week. In both cases the Chinese offered deals that the British and Greeks couldn’t deny. In London, the Chinese Premier got a deal with the Bank of England which appointed one of China’s largest […]
EU and China relations are perfectly depicted in a passage from a European Union External Action service Press release issued recently. It says, “While acknowledging China’s advancement of the economic and social wellbeing of its people in the past 25 years, the EU also hopes to see greater space open up for discussion and debate […]
How is it possible that the good news of the growth of the American economy which has raised its gear, also brings forth crisis and possibly destruction in developing countries? Yet this is exactly what is already happening in our brave new world. The good news is that the US economy now grows at a […]
Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) are long-term placements in real economy business, not right away tradable, realized by investors residing outside the country. They should be sharply distinguished from the highly volatile financial investments on stocks and bonds, which can depart from the country at any moment. The crisis years in the period 2009-2012 don’t seem […]
Yesterday, the European Commission took the middle, not ambitious path, on the burning issue of climate protection. It chose to propose rather conservative targets for reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and energy production from renewable resources, easy to achieve and not demanding extra efforts in the investments front. To this effect, early yesterday, José Manuel […]
Two different developments, completely unrelated with each other, at least in the first reading, took place yesterday and may shape the future of the European Union in the near future. In the first instance the British Prime Minister, David Cameron, on official visit to China, had a quite unpleasant morning yesterday being badly molested by the […]
The fall of oil prices right after the European Union negotiators, working on behalf of the E3+3 group, reached an agreement with Iran, was the first and infallible sign that this was a step towards the right direction, at least for the energy importing countries. In the Geneva negotiations, the West was represented by Catherine […]
The UN climate conferences are the kind on international tribunes, where the European Union can present its opinions with pride. It’s not only that the EU has unilaterally set a target to cut down green-house emissions by 20% below 1990 levels by 2020, but also because this programme is on track to achieve targets. On […]
The announcement of the conclusion of the EU-Canada free trade agreement yesterday not only opens a new chapter in the history of EU-Canada relations, but the solutions agreed in sensitive chapters, like agriculture and animal products and public procurement will serve as a base for the under negotiation similar pact with the US. The Prime […]
A proposal for a resolution on the EU-China investment and market access agreement will be discussed in the October 8 plenary session of the European Parliament. A vote is scheduled to follow on the same day. The resolution, drafted by Helmut Scholz (GUE/NGL, DE), was passed by 25 votes to 2 with 3 abstentions, during […]
A rather disappointing picture of the world economy drew OECD Deputy Chief Economist Jorgen Elmeskov last week, when he said that “The gradual pick-up in momentum in the advanced economies is encouraging but a sustainable recovery is not yet firmly established. Major risks remain”. If it was not for China’s predicted growth during the last […]
This year there was no summer recess for the European Commission Directorate General for Trade (DG TRADE) and more precisely for the Directorate C which is competent for Asia. China kept the department’s bureaucrats busy all along this August, because on the 7th and the 16th of this month the Directorate produced two major cases […]
In an unexpected move the European Commission announced on Wednesday 7 August that it “…continues anti-subsidy investigation on solar panels from China…”, and this only a few days after Commissioner Karel De Gucht, responsible for foreign trade had announced on 27 July that the issue had been concluded ‘amicably’ between Brussels and Beijing. In contrast […]
Exactly ten days after the European Sting predicted on 19 July that most likely EU and China would soon settle their long time dispute on solar panels, Commissioner De Gucht confirmed last Saturday: “We found an amicable solution in the EU-China solar panels case that will lead to a new market equilibrium at sustainable prices”. In […]
With EU – China bilateral trade volume at more than €1 billion a day and both ways investment flows at around €20bn a year, accusations and complaints over state subsidies, dumping and other trade distorting practices exchanged between the two giant partners seem unimportant. Yet the recent proliferation of the anti-dumping and anti-state-subsidies measures adopted […]
Yesterday, only a few days after the European Commission decided to impose provisional anti-dumping tariffs on Chinese solar panels imported in the EU, the Mission of the People’s Republic of China to the European Union issued a Press release where the spokesperson of the Mission confirmed that the Ministry of Commerce of China, in response […]
Today the European Commission has decided to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on imports of solar panels, cells and wafers from China. The relevant Press releaese goes like that,”This decision follows a thorough and serious investigation and extended contacts with market players. As the market for and imports of solar panels in the EU is very […]
According to European Commission’s procedures, the legal dead line for a decision to be taken on the imposition or not of provisional tariffs on European imports of Chinese solar panels, expires tomorrow 5 June. It must be noted however that the EU Trade Spokesman John Clancy, when issuing a Press release on 27 May noted […]
The visit of the new Prime Minister of the People’s Republic of China and party secretary of the State Council, Li Keqiang to Germany paid tangible dividends. After meeting with the German Chancellor Angela Merkel he got an official and public promise from her that Berlin will intervene in the Brussels procedures, to cool down […]
European Union Trade Commissioner, Karel De Gucht, announced yesterday that, “The European Commission has today taken a decision in principle to open an ex officio anti-dumping and an anti-subsidy investigation concerning imports of mobile telecommunications networks and their essential elements from China”. Without naming individual firms this Commission decision is directly targeted against two international […]
The powerful EU’s executive arm, the European Commission, announced yesterday its proposal for a new legislation targeted at strengthening the protection of home businesses and products from external competition. It’s a clear effort to help the Union’s economy overcome a deepening recession. The new legislations will be in force early in 2014, after being approved […]
The European Commission launched today (Thursday 28 February), an anti-dumping investigation into imports of solar glass from China. According to the relevant official announcement, “The initiation is based on a complaint lodged by the association European Union ProSun Glass, which claims solar glass from China is being dumped in the EU at prices below market […]
According to well-informed Brussels sources, the European Commission secured last week a non-binding authorisation by the EU member states, to impose anti-dumping measures on imports of solar panels and components originating from China. The same sources say, however, that the Commission denied that this will lead to an immediate imposition of such measures and characterised […]
A group of European Parliament members, representing the House Delegation for South East Asia and the ASEAN countries (DASE), while visiting the Philippines last week said, they support the country’s move to refer territorial differences over the South China Sea to United Nations. Those differences involve six countries of the region the Philippines, China, Vietnam, […]
Yesterday, Jörg Asmussen, Member of the ECB’s Executive Board speaking in an interview to a Greek newspaper said, that the issue of the Japanese yen devaluation should be referred to the G7 and the G20 councils. He added that if each-one goes for himself with national currency competitive devaluations, the outcome will be catastrophic for […]
Last week the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced the imposition of anti-dumping duties on two products originating from the EU and the US. Imports into China of the widely used solvents ethylene glycol monobutyl and diethylene glycol monobutyl ethers, produced by a number of European and American companies, will be penalised with anti-dumping duties ranging […]
The developing countries, led by the industrialised nations of Asia, are playing a fast growing role in the world economy and may soon overshadow the developed triangle of US-EU-Japan. Actually they have already overtaken them in key sectors. According to the UNCTAD’s Handbook of Statistics 2012 the share of emerging countries in “the most heavily […]
A statement by the head of the EU Mission in Beijing, Markus Ederer, that the EU is not looking to start a trade war with China over dumping pricing or illegal subsidies, does not make good sense. His comments are contradictory to the fact that the Commission has launched aggressive investigations on two very important […]
Towards the end of last year Beijing announced the opening of its Geostatic Positioning System for civic and commercial users in the region of Asia and Pacific, adding that the China Satellite Navigation Office is working fast to extend the area covered by this satellite umbrella named “BeiDou”. A GPS system “provides location and time information […]
