The EU and China agreed on Saturday to launch talks on a wide-ranging treaty to extend their burgeoning economic ties, but Beijing warned Brussels not to link trade to the contentious issue of human rights.
The European Union and China said in a joint statement they would partially decouple business from the rest of the talks and deal with them in a "relatively independent manner". Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao stressed that he wanted to partition economics from more sensitive political issues.
"We disapprove of coupling so-called human rights issues to economic and trade issues," Wen told a news conference, adding that he hoped to continue a dialogue on the issue with the EU. "China's advances in human rights are known to all."
International human rights groups have consistently criticised China for arbitrarily punishing citizens and have voiced alarm over what they call a recent deterioration in China's nascent legal system. The 25-nation EU bloc and the emerging Asian economic powerhouse have long wanted to upgrade the formal agreement that governs their more than 20-year-old relationship.
But they had previously failed to agree on whether to link economic with political issues. China had proposed two separate sets of talks. But the EU insisted all the issues should be discussed as part of one, new deal, known as a Partnership and Co-operation Agreement (PCA).
Saturday's joint statement said Brussels and Beijing "underlined the importance of concrete steps in the field of human rights" based on "equality and mutual respect".
Brussels this year slapped anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather shoes, angering Beijing, and EU countries are due to decide in coming weeks whether to extend these for five years. European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said it was vital Europeans did not feel threatened by ties with China.
"This is very important, to reassure public opinion in Europe that this growing relationship is really a great opportunity for China but (also) for Europe and for the world," he told the news conference.
Barroso said China had pledged to take measures to make it easier to prosecute commercial pirates who copy movies, software and other goods protected by intellectual property rights.
China also urged Brussels to heed its long-standing requests for "market economy status" (MES) - a recognition that its economy was free of state intervention that would make it easier for China to fight off anti-dumping charges. But Barroso said China had so far met only one of five technical criteria needed for the designation.
"This has nothing to do with a negative political position regarding China," he said. In the joint statement, China again asked the EU to lift the arms embargo imposed after the bloody repression by Chinese authorities of the pro-democracy movement in 1989.
China says the ban is discriminatory and that lifting it would not lead to more arms sales. The EU said it "recognised the importance of this issue" and would carry on work towards lifting the embargo on the basis of previous agreements with China and among EU countries.