EU's tariff plan targeting Chinese EVs to undermine its own green transition: official

The European Union's plan to impose additional duties on imports of Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) will undermine its own green and low-carbon transformation and the global response to climate change, China's top economic planner said Tuesday.

The European Commission on June 12 unveiled a preliminary decision to impose provisional anti-subsidy tariffs on EVs imported from China after its anti-subsidy investigation. The pre-disclosed duties range from 17.4 percent to 38.1 percent, in addition to the standard 10 percent vehicle duty already in place.

"Disregarding facts and rules and preconceiving outcomes, the investigation is actually weaponized and politicized, jeopardizing fair competition in the name of safeguarding it. We firmly oppose this. Practice has fully proved that shortsighted trade protectionism is not an option, and flowers in greenhouses can't stand wind and rain," Li Chao, spokeswoman of the National Development and Reform Commission, China's top economic planner, told a press conference in Beijing.

The proposed tariffs, if implemented, would not only harm Chinese enterprises but also impede the long-term healthy development of EU companies, which will disrupt and distort the global automotive industry and supply chains, including the section within the EU, the spokeswoman warned.

She noted that such measures would not only harm the interests of EU consumers but also exacerbate the EU's dependence on foreign fossil fuels as well as hinder EU's green and low-carbon transformation efforts.

"China supports auto companies of all countries in participating in fair competitions and is dedicated to maintaining the stability of global automotive industry and supply chains. We hope that the EU will think and act with prudence, respect basic economic laws and the rules of the World Trade Organization, heed calls from its own industry, rectify its erroneous practices and return to the right path of open cooperation and green development as soon as possible," said the spokeswoman.

EU's tariff plan targeting Chinese EVs to undermine its own green transition: official

EU's tariff plan targeting Chinese EVs to undermine its own green transition: official

The Chang'e-6 mission made three major technological breakthroughs and a world-first accomplishment, an official of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said at a press conference about the lunar exploration mission in Beijing on Thursday.

Vice Administrator of CNSA Bian Zhigang noted that the Chang'e-6 mission is a lunar exploration mission adopted with most advanced technologies to date in China's space exploration endeavors.

"The Chang'e-6 mission made breakthroughs in lunar retrograde orbit design and control, intelligent sampling on the moon and lunar ascent from its far side, and realized the first unmanned automatic sample collection and return from the far side of the moon in the world, setting another world record for China's aerospace program," Bian said.

Samples collected from the far side of the moon may help mankind further study the planet, said Li Chunlai, deputy chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission, at the press conference.

"The samples collected from the South Pole-Aitken Basin may be very different from the samples collected from the front side, which is conducive to a more comprehensive understanding of the geological evolution history of the moon," Li said.

The mission also carried out cooperation with the European Space Agency, France, Italy and Pakistan on four scientific payloads to obtain valuable first-hand scientific data.

"We promised the orbiter and lander will each reserve a volume of 10 kg for international payloads. We fulfilled the promise and accumulated experience for us to perform more complex tasks in the future," Hu Hao, chief designer of the Chang'e-6 mission, told reporters.

CNSA official on Chang'e-6's major breakthroughs