Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to Europe: "There's space for more business between Belgium and China"

CGTN Europe interviewed Bernard Dewit, Chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce.

Transcript

00:00Wang Yi's visit to France follows stopovers in Berlin and Brussels.

00:04Our correspondent Li Jianhua spoke to the chairman of the Belgian-Chinese Chamber of Commerce

00:09to gauge how Belgian businesses are viewing this Chinese foreign minister's visit.

00:15The message Minister Wang Yi is bringing is a message of peace,

00:22is a message of let's work together, there are things we can do together,

00:27there is space for more business between Belgium and China,

00:34so I think this is something very positive.

00:37So during his meeting with the Belgian prime minister,

00:41he said he hopes to see more investments from Belgium in China,

00:46so how do Belgian companies see the Chinese market now?

00:51Well, Chinese market is not an easy market,

00:54just because China is not close to Belgium,

00:57the language is different, the culture is different,

01:01but this being said, China offers nice possibilities,

01:05offers nice possibilities in various fields,

01:08I mean high-tech, I mean green energy, I mean education,

01:14I mean culture, which is also a kind of business,

01:17so there are possibilities.

01:19Not an easy market, as you said.

01:22EU foreign policy chief Kaya Callis met Wang Yi,

01:26and she raised the concern of market access,

01:29what's your take on that?

01:30Well, that is one of the preoccupations of European business people,

01:36sometimes they have the feeling not to be treated equally in accessing Chinese market

01:45compared to Chinese companies already active in China, of course.

01:50But this being said, we should not also put this as a barrier for not going to China.

02:00There are possibilities in China, there are fields that are open,

02:05and more fields are open now.

02:07When you see that the Chinese government had diminished the negative list for foreign investors in China,

02:17this is a positive sign.

02:19We also should look at Chinese companies coming to Europe,

02:25and I think there are more and more Chinese companies also looking at Europe,

02:30so we should also seize these possibilities for developing a business

02:36that would be profitable for European and Chinese companies.

02:40European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen reiterates that the EU stance on China

02:46is still de-risking, not decoupling,

02:49but do you think de-risking at the end of the day ultimately will lead to decoupling?

02:53We have to be very careful by using the words,

02:57and for some people, when they speak about de-risking,

03:01they have in mind while decoupling and eventually at one day trying to stop trade relationship.

03:13We should remain in dialogue between EU and China.

03:19We should remain with a respectful attitude towards each other.