[PEN-L:6648] EU-China summit scrapped

["Henry C.K. Liu" <hliu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Tuesday  May 11  1999

                     European Union-China summit scrapped

             DAVID MURPHY in Beijing, FOO CHOY PENG in
             Shanghai and Agencies
             The European Union-China summit, due
             to take place in Beijing on Thursday, has
             been cancelled.

             Instead of a three-day trip combining
             bilateral talks and the summit, German
             Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder will pay a
             one-day visit to Beijing for a working-level
             meeting involving only political talks.

             The cancellation also meant outgoing EU
             president Jacques Santer and
             vice-president Sir Leon Brittan would not
             visit China. "The commission will not be
             present," Sir Leon said in Berlin.

             Reflecting heightened tensions between
             China and the West, the Kosovo crisis is
             expected to dominate the agenda between
             Mr Schroeder and President Jiang Zemin.

             Plans to sign contracts worth about two
             billion marks (HK$8.52 billion) during Mr
             Schroeder's visit have been postponed
             indefinitely.

             "The Chinese side clearly indicated that in
             the light of the circumstances, the trip by
             an economic delegation would be
             inappropriate," said a spokesman for the
             Chancellor's office in Bonn.

             Mr Schroeder's visit would now focus on
             trying to win Chinese backing for efforts to
             draft a UN resolution mandating the use of
             international peacekeeping troops to
             enforce an eventual settlement of the
             conflict, he said.

             "What is important now is to convince the
             Chinese side that, firstly, it is important to
             continue working on a resolution and not
             to veto it and, secondly, to maintain
             Germany's good relations with China," the
             spokesman said.

             The summit was set to thrash out the last
             stumbling blocks to Beijing joining the
             World Trade Organisation.

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