In the first eight months of this year, China-EU trade hit US$111.64 billion, up 36.6 percent year-on-year. Of which, China's exports amounted to US$65.47 billion and imports US$46.17 billion, up 39 percent and 33.4 percent respectively, figures from Chinese customs show.

Last year bilateral trade recorded US$125.22 billion. 

China mainly exports to the European Union machinery and electronic products, high-tech products, as well as textile, garments, toys, shoes, bags and plastic products and imports from it capital-intensive goods, automobile parts, steel, machinery equipment, airplanes, industrial raw material and transport facilities.

On May 1, 2004, the European Union expanded its member countries from 15 to 25, thus becoming China's largest trade partner and technology provider and the fourth  investor. China is the second biggest trade partner of EU.

EU's investment in the Chinese mainland has ranked the fourth following the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the United States and Japan. Till the end of August this year, EU had set up 18,000 enterprises in China and its contractual investment totaled up to US$71.27 billion, with the actual investment reaching US$40.97 billion.

The European Union has invested in 1,522 projects in China from January to August this year with a contractual value of US$4.46 billion, figures from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOC) indicate.

The European Union has introduced 1,393 items of technology into China in the first eight months with a contractual value of US$3.65 billion, accounting for about 90 percent of the annual value last year.

The total number of technology transferred into China had summed up to 18,000 items till June. And the aid from the EU to China has recorded 466 million euros since 1993.

In a bid to solve problems in bilateral economic cooperation and trade, China and the European Union established mixed committees at ministerial level in 1979, which have held 19 meetings so far, concerning trade and economy, environmental protection, energy, information and science and technology.

Dialogue mechanism on intellectual property rights, trade policy, competition policy and fabric trade has launched or will kick off later this year.

However, there still exist some specific issues in China-EU economic and trade ties, involving China's full market economy status, China's status as a new member of the World Trade Organization and EU's restriction on high-tech export to China. 

(Xinhua News Agency October 5, 2004)