A fair deal

The service demanded by China in return for economic aid has nothing to do with blackmail, the conservative daily Lidové noviny writes: "Beijing wants to know what it stands to gain from the deal. One could say that China is dictating its rules to the West. But let's not forget, these are rules that the West invented and then violated itself. So is that unfair? China is the world's second largest economic power, the largest exporter and creditor in the world. In the past year alone its exports to the EU grew by 19 percent. Of course it doesn't want this market to collapse. But if it's going to invest it also wants something in return. The WTO plans to grant Beijing the status of a market economy in 2016, giving it protection against anti-dumping suits. Now Premier Wen Jiabao wants Europe to ensure that happens a few years earlier. That's how friends treat each other, he says. Blackmail? No, because it's the Europeans who asked China for help."

» more information (external link, Czech)
More from the press review on the subject » EU Policy, » Fiscal Policy, » Financial Markets, » Europe, » China
All available articles from » Zbyněk Petráček

» To the complete press review of Thursday, September 15, 2011