The European Union's decision to impose anti-subsidy tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs) is essentially an act of trade protectionism, according to the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) on Wednesday.
The European Commission, the executive arm of the 27-nation EU, announced on Tuesday that it had concluded its anti-subsidy investigation and decided to impose a definitive countervailing duty on imports of new battery EVs imported from China for a period of five years.
The sampled Chinese companies will be subject to different countervailing duties, specifically, 17.0 percent on BYD, 18.8 percent on Geely, and 35.3 percent on SAIC.
Xu Haidong, deputy chief engineer of the CAAM, said that the EU has completely disregarded how China's vast EV market and competitive market economy, rather than so-called subsidies, have affected pricing of EVs.
"The CAAM firmly opposes this decision, which represents typical trade protectionism disguised as rule-based act. It significantly hurts the feelings of Chinese automobile companies and erodes the confidence of Chinese manufacturers investing in Europe," said Xu.
China auto association condemns EU tariffs on Chinese EVs as trade protectionism
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko in Beijing on Wednesday.
Wang, also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, said that the China-Russia comprehensive strategic partnership of coordination is grounded in a natural logic of history and driven by strong internal dynamics, no matter how the international situation changes.
The development of the China-Russia relations does not target any third party or is subject to interference by any third party, he said.
Wang said under the leadership of the two heads of state, the China-Russia relations have maintained a sound momentum of development, which serves common interests of the people of both nations and allows them to make their respective contributions to safeguarding the purposes and principles of the UN Charter.
He noted that not long ago, the BRICS Summit was successfully held in Russia's Kazan, making positive progress on the BRICS mechanism, promoting unity and self-strengthening of the Global South, and playing an important and constructive role in world peace and stability.
He urged the two sides to make joint efforts to coordinate cooperation in various fields and exchanges at all levels, and implement the consensus reached by the two heads of state.
China has taken over the rotating presidency of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and stands ready to work closely with Russia to promote new development of the SCO, Wang added.
Rudenko said that the head-of-state diplomacy has laid a good foundation for the development of bilateral relations.
Russia is ready to work with China to earnestly implement the arrangements made by the two heads of state, maintain close high-level exchanges, strengthen practical cooperation, continue to maintain coordination on international and regional affairs, and push for new development of the Russia-China relations, Rudenko said.
They also exchanged views on the Ukraine crisis.
Chinese foreign minister meets Russian deputy foreign minister on relations
