In the runup to the G7 summit, hosted by France in Évian-les-Bains on Monday, 15 June, China has addressed global economic balances in a videoconference hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron. It is a rarity for Beijing to engage directly with the group.
G7 countries are expected to discuss how to respond to the growing volume of low-priced Chinese exports entering their markets at the conference.
Macron has named the upcoming summit Global Convergence for Growth, where leaders, along with China and representatives from other major economies, their views on trade, investment and global market stability.
The videoconference helped clarify Beijing’s priorities for the meeting: Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Guoqing called for a free and convenient trade environment and said countries should take an objective view of each other's comparative advantages.
He added that China would continue to expand its efforts to open up economically and share development opportunities with other countries to bring stability to the world.
Beijing's position, in short, is that its manufacturing competitiveness reflects legitimate economic strengths rather than unfair practices which - a view that not all of its trading partners share.
Macron has been using France's G7 presidency to push for cooperative solutions to what he describes as global economic imbalances, with China producing too much, the United States consuming too much, and Europe investing too little.
French officials said the conference call was part of an effort to engage Beijing constructively before the European Union decides whether to tighten its trade policy toward China. EU leaders are scheduled to meet immediately after the G7 summit, with China expected to feature prominently on the agenda.
A major context to all of this is a Europe that is genuinely divided on how to handle its relationship with China. Germany, Europe's largest trading economy, has long been cautious about imposing tariffs on China given how much it exports there.
But as Chinese carmakers increasingly compete with German manufacturers, some German lawmakers have begun pushing for a firmer approach. Other EU members, meanwhile, have been more willing to consider imposing protective measures, and the gap between those positions has made a unified European response difficult to agree on.
Macron met with Xi Jinping in Beijing in December, where he told the Chinese president that Beijing should help rebalance economic relations cooperatively, or Europe would have little choice but to move toward more protectionist measures.
This call was a follow-up to that conversation - an attempt to keep dialogue open and give China a seat at the table before harder decisions are made at the summit.
Since December, Beijing has received leaders from five G7 nations for high-level meetings, an indication that both sides are paying close attention to what comes next.
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