CHANGSHA, HUNAN, CHINA – I hope our cooperation will continue for a long time, says the director of the Hunan Provincial Forestry Agency Hu Changqing to the European guests and hands each a wooden comb.
from the EU ambassador to China Jorge Toledo Albiñana has just been recycled in the tall mixed forest of central China.
The planting of the forest has been supported by the European Investment Bank. The area is part of a forest of hundreds of thousands of hectares, which has been grown with the money and know-how of Europeans.
The investment bank’s inspection team is now touring Hunan’s afforestation projects for the first time since the start of the corona pandemic.
The climate cooperation between the EU and China has suffered in recent years not only from the corona virus, but also from the cooling of relations. The European Commission has not given the European Investment Bank permission to finance new projects in China in the last four years.
Before that, the bank has financed China’s afforestation and energy projects for 1.3 billion euros in recent decades.
has learned from background sources that the European Commission’s reluctance to start new projects is due to bumps in political relations.
Among other things, the EU suspects that Chinese companies are supplying Russia with dual-use weapons for warfare. The reform of the anti-espionage law, on the other hand, endangers the position of Western consulting companies in China, when companies can unexpectedly be accused of espionage.
Director of the European Investment Bank for China Hello Kaikkonen sounds frustrated for the past few years.
Does China’s opening up after the pandemic bring hope for improved climate cooperation?
– At least it can’t get any worse, Kaikkonen says.
He adds that it is his view, not necessarily that of the European Investment Bank.
– But the climate problem is so big and global. It knows no boundaries, so we have to cooperate.
Carbon sinks at the heart of China’s climate action
In the nursery for camellia tree seedlings, local farmers sit at long tables and plant seedlings from cuttings for new hectares.
The European Investment Bank currently has 14 afforestation projects underway in different parts of China.
European support is only a small part of China’s own massive afforestation. Increasing carbon sinks is at the core of China’s climate strategy. China aims to reforest almost a quarter of its entire surface area by 2025 and has now almost reached its goal.
The speed of afforestation is indicated by the fact that in the next five years, China plans to plant trees equal to the area of Finland.
Why does the EU support prosperous China, which itself pours money into infrastructure projects in countries with which it wants political relations?
The EU must support China in forestry, because China is perhaps the most important partner in the fight against climate change, says the EU’s ambassador to China.
– China is the world’s largest source of carbon dioxide emissions and other climate emissions in the world, ambassador Jorge Toledo Albiñana says.
China’s emissions are about a third of the world’s emissions. They come, for example, from factory production, which also produces goods for consumption in Europe.
According to Toledo, China is interested in EU funding, because with it, the EU provides technical expertise on biodiversity and forest planting. Chinese hosts call diversity a “closer to nature” strategy. Words often flicker when the hosts tell how the bushes on the slopes of the mountain have been transformed into forests.
Toledo also tells that relations between the EU and China have been stuck.
– It must be admitted that systemic competition has become more prominent in relationships, he says.
Last year, the European Council defined China as a systemic competitor of the EU. It means competition for, among other things, the political system.
There has been controversy in almost every field, so the discussion connection in both the economic and political fields has practically been cut off.
The EU and China are returning to talking
Climate cooperation can benefit from the fact that a new kind of voice communication is now developing between the EU and China.
EU Ambassador Toledo says that the EU and China will discuss political issues and the economy at a high level this year for the first time in four years. He hopes that as a result, the European Commission will receive more money for climate cooperation.
– We have to protect climate cooperation from other disagreements, because we have a common goal, he says.
The exchange of ideas has already begun. President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel have already visited China. Director of EU External Relations Josep Borrell and Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans are coming.
According to Toledo, trade relations are also planned to be actively negotiated. At the end of the year, the EU-China summit will be held for the first time in four years.
The desire to negotiate also seems to come from Brussels According to Politico magazine (you will switch to another service) to the incoming call to the member countries. According to the newspaper, the European External Action Service has called on EU countries to keep the dialogue connection with China open.
The reason is the growing tension between the United States and China. The threat of the situation in Taiwan flaring up into a conflict has grown.
– Not having a conversation connection is a bad thing. It can be seen in the relationship between the United States and China. The countries’ reticence is a problem, says Toledo.
According to him, the United States wants to talk, but China does not.
– This is dangerous. When it comes to a military threat, it can lead to damage or an increase in tension. China must also agree to open military-to-military communication because the threat of damage or conflict is real, Toledo says.