Georges-Louis Bouchez: “Seizing every opportunity to defend Belgian and European interests in China, as everywhere else in the world”
“I am not naive. China thinks of its own interests, which is not a problem. The real problem is that Europe has not sufficiently considered its own interests in recent years. If you want to positively influence things, first you must speak to the right actors, and second, you need precise knowledge of what is happening in the world,” explains Georges-Louis Bouchez from China, where he travelled at the invitation of the authorities for a working visit to Beijing and Shenzhen, at the heart of the country's economic, technological and industrial power.
In Beijing, the MR President met representatives of the Communist Party's Central Committee. “It has to be said that this kind of exchange and discussion is extremely useful for putting yourself in the other person's shoes and understanding their realities.”
For the second part of his visit, Georges-Louis Bouchez travelled to Shenzhen: “this is the economic aspect, since one of our goals is to attract investment to Europe in order to create jobs there, not just export products to it. I of course raised the issue of the trade deficit we have with China. And it has to be said that this is more the result of our own weakness than really China's fault. I also made clear that this situation must change and that, to achieve that, it is up to us to rebuild industrial sectors in Europe.”
“So I did not let any opportunity pass to defend Belgian interests. I highlighted the port of Antwerp and Liège airport, but I also presented sites such as Audi's in Forest and other sites, this time in Wallonia, explaining that if China wants to improve its relations with Europe, that is at least the message conveyed to me, one of the elements would also be for Chinese products to now be made in Europe, with European labour and capital invested in Europe.”
- Watch Terzake
- Watch the video of Georges-Louis Bouchez
- Look back at his first day in China
- Look back at several political meetings
- Read the article in Het Laatste Nieuws
- Read the article in De Standaard