‘Tough Negotiations’
The European press informs us that a delegation of EU Commission minions, including Mr. JC Juncker (who according to a euphemistically worded description by one of his critics at the Commission ‘seems often befuddled and tired, not really quite present’) and European Council president Donald Tusk, has made landfall in Beijing. Their mission was to berate prime minister Li Keqiang over alleged ‘steel dumping’ by China and get him to cease and desist.
The left-leaning Guardian writes – in a somewhat strident-sounding tone – that ‘Jean-Claude Juncker threatens China over steel dumping in Europe’.
‘The president of the European commission has warned China must stop dumping cheap steel in Europe or it could fail to gain market economy status with the World Trade Organization, which Beijing is desperate to secure. Jean-Claude Juncker said that Beijing and the EU had agreed to establish a working group to discuss the crisis in the steel industry and monitor steel shipments from China.
‘The EU will defend its steel industry. We are not defenceless, and we will use all the means at our disposal,’ Juncker said in Beijing after talks with the Chinese government.
(emphasis added)
We mention the strident tone mainly because steel workers are a kind of symbol/ hobby horse of the left – a nostalgic remnant, as the historic roots of socialism and unionism are often associated with smokestack industries. So they can’t help praising this apparently testosterone-laden version of Juncker, striding upon the international stage to fight for the rights of the steel worker! Yeah, baby! Time to play hardball with these yellow perils! Friendship, comrade!
This post was published at Acting-Man on July 13, 2016.
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