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China says anti-dumping move on EU brandy is legitimate trade measure

BEIJING — China’s anti-dumping measures against brandies imported from the European Union are “legitimate trade remedy measures,” the commerce ministry said on Wednesday, a day after imposing the temporary curb.

French brands such as Hennessy and Remy Martin will face the strictures, adopted just days after the 27-nation bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles (EVs), sparking its biggest trade row with Beijing in a decade.

China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings of an investigation showed that dumping of brandy from the European Union threatened “substantial damage” to domestic industry.

On Wednesday the ministry said the EU’s actions against Chinese EVs “seriously lack a factual and legal basis” and “clearly violate” World Trade Organization (WTO) rules.

China has protested strongly to the WTO, it added.

Trade tensions have surged since the European Commission said last week it would press ahead with tariffs on China-made EVs, even after Germany, the bloc’s largest economy, rejected them.

Another sign of rising trade tension was the ministry’s remarks on Tuesday that an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into EU pork products would deliver “objective and fair” decisions when it wraps up.

It also said it was considering a hike in tariffs on imports of large-engine vehicles, which would hit German producers hardest. German exports to China of vehicles with engines 2.5 liters in size, or larger, reached $1.2 billion last year.
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British Foreign Secretary Lammy to visit China in bid to reset ties, sources say

BEIJING — Britain’s Foreign Secretary David Lammy will visit China next week, sources familiar with the plan said, as the new Labor government seeks less confrontational ties with the world’s second-largest economy and to resume trade and investment talks.

British officials have said they want to recalibrate many of the previous Conservative Party-led government’s positions on China, which it described as an “epoch-defining challenge,” particularly around accepting Chinese job-creating investment.

But Britain is unlikely to budge on issues such as Chinese firms’ involvement in providing key infrastructure, human rights and restoring the license of state broadcaster CGTN, as it is controlled by China’s ruling Communist Party.

Lammy, who has vowed to overhaul Britain’s ties with China, will meet Chinese officials in Beijing and representatives of British firms in Shanghai, two of the four sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.

His itinerary has not yet been finalized, however, another person familiar with the planning said.

A Foreign Office spokesperson said ministerial travel would be announced in the usual way. China’s foreign ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

During a telephone call in August, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who took office the previous month, told Chinese President Xi Jinping their countries must be able to talk frankly about disagreements while pursuing closer economic ties and co-operation on global issues.

British finance minister Rachel Reeves is also considering traveling to China in the near future, said two sources.

Her visit will aim to revive trade and investment talks that are supposed to take place annually. The last round of the UK-China Economic and Financial Dialogue, as it is called, was held in 2019.

China is Britain’s sixth largest trading partner, accounting for 5% of total trade, British government figures show.

But questions on Hong Kong, espionage accusations, and plans for a new Chinese embassy in London await resolution and may slow plans to resume talks and promises of fresh investment.

Last week, two Britons, including a former researcher for a senior British lawmaker, pleaded not guilty to a charge of spying for China.

That followed China’s accusation in June that British foreign intelligence service MI6 recruited two staff members from unnamed state bodies to act as spies.

Beijing is also waiting for a go-ahead on plans to build a new embassy in London after they were thrown out on security grounds in December 2022.

In recent years, the two countries have also traded barbs on Hong Kong, a former British colony handed back to Beijing in 1997.

More than 180,000 people have moved to Britain from Hong Kong under a special visa program set up in response to a crackdown on dissent in the Asian financial hub.

In September, a senior Labor lawmaker said Britain should outlaw imports of products made by forced labor in China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang.
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MI5 spy chief says Russia, Iran behind ‘staggering’ rise in deadly plots

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Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection law a threat to independent media, analysts say

The European Commission has filed a lawsuit over Hungary’s Sovereignty Protection legislation, saying it violates EU law. Opponents see the law as a threat to the few remaining independent media outlets in Hungary, which rely on international funding sources. VOA’s Eastern Europe bureau chief Myroslava Gongadze reports from Budapest. VOA footage and video editing by Daniil Batushchak.
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France’s minority government survives no-confidence vote, 2 weeks after taking office

PARIS — France’s minority government survived a no-confidence vote on Tuesday, two weeks after taking office, getting over the first hurdle placed by left-wing lawmakers to bring down new conservative Prime Minister Michel Barnier. 

The vote was a key test for Barnier, whose Cabinet is forced to rely on the far right’s good will to be able to stay in power. 

The no-confidence motion was brought by a left-wing coalition, the New Popular Front. It received 197 votes, far from the 289 votes needed to pass. The far-right National Rally group, which counts 125 lawmakers, abstained from voting. 

Following June-July parliamentary elections, the National Assembly, France’s powerful lower house of parliament, is divided into three major blocs: the New Popular Front, French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist allies and the far-right National Rally party. None of them won an outright majority. 

The no-confidence motion was brought by 192 lawmakers of the New Popular Front, composed of the hard-left France Unbowed, Socialists, Greens and Communists. 

Barnier’s cabinet is mostly composed of members of his Republicans party and centrists from Macron’s alliance who altogether count just over 200 lawmakers. 

Left-wing lawmakers denounced the choice of Barnier as prime minister as they were not given a chance to form a minority government, despite securing the most seats at the National Assembly. This government “is a denial of the result of the most recent legislative elections,” the motion read.
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China targets brandy in EU trade tit-for-tat after EV tariff move

Beijing/Paris — China imposed temporary anti-dumping measures on imports of brandy from the EU on Tuesday, hitting French brands including Hennessy and Remy Martin, days after the 27-state bloc voted for tariffs on Chinese-made electric vehicles, or EVs.

China’s commerce ministry said preliminary findings of an investigation had determined that dumping of brandy from the European Union threatens “substantial damage” to its own sector.

France’s trade ministry said the temporary Chinese measures were “incomprehensible” and violated free trade, and that it would work with the European Commission to challenge the move at the World Trade Organization.

In a sign of the rising trade tensions, China’s ministry added in another statement on Tuesday that an ongoing anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into EU pork products would make “objective and fair” decisions when it concludes.

It also said that it was considering a hike in tariffs on imports of large-engine vehicles, which would hit German producers hardest. German exports of vehicles with engines of 2.5 liters or larger to China reached $1.2 billion last year.

France was seen as the target of Beijing’s brandy probe due to its support of tariffs on China-made EVs. French brandy shipments to China reached $1.7 billion last year and accounted for 99% of the country’s imports of the spirit.

As of Oct. 11, importers of brandy originating in the EU will have to put down security deposits mostly ranging from 34.8% to 39.0% of the import value, the ministry said.

“This announcement clearly shows that China is determined to tax us in response to European decisions on Chinese electric vehicles,” French cognac producers group BNIC said in an email.

French President Emmanuel Macron said last week that China’s brandy probe was “pure retaliation,” while EV tariffs were needed to preserve a level playing field.

Shares tumble

LVMH-owned Hennessy and Remy Martin were among the brands hardest hit by the measures, with importers having to pay security deposits of 39.0% and 38.1%, respectively.

The deposits would make it more costly upfront to import brandy from the EU. However they could be returned if a deal is eventually reached before definitive tariffs are imposed.

Both the investigation and negotiations remain ongoing, said an executive at a leading cognac company, who declined to be identified due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Chinese investigators visited producers in France last month and were due to make further site visits, the executive said, while Chinese and EU officials held negotiations on Monday.

The outcome was unclear, however, and doubts around the EU’s willingness to make a deal were emerging, they added.

Shares in Pernod Ricard were down 4.2% at 0839 GMT, while Remy Cointreau’s dropped 8.7% and shares in LVMH fell 4.9%.

Companies that cooperated with China’s investigation were hit with security deposit rates of 34.8%, with that imposed on Martell the lowest at 30.6%.

Pernod Ricard, Remy Cointreau and LVMH did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The measures could mean a 20% price rise for consumers in China, said Jefferies analysts, reducing sales volumes by 20%.

Remy, with the greatest exposure to the Chinese market, could see its sales decline by 6%, with Pernod group sales seeing a 1.6% impact, they said.

China is the second largest export market for cognac after the United States but is the industry’s most profitable territory. Difficult economic conditions in both markets have already prompted a sharp decline in cognac sales.

James Sym, fund manager at Remy investor River Global, said despite this, there was no sign that demand for cognac had fundamentally changed, pointing to an uptick in cognac sales in Japan driven by Chinese tourists when the yen was weak.

“That’s obviously a sign that cognac is not out of fashion,” he said, adding volumes – and the companies’ share prices – should recover long-term, although the tariffs would likely hit volumes and margins while in place.

Talks continue

Luxury goods shares fell by as much as 7% on Tuesday, with one trader attributing this to fears that the sector, which is heavily reliant on China, could be next to see trade measures.

The brandy measures follow a vote by the EU to adopt tariffs on China-made EVs by the end of October.

Before the vote in late August, China had suspended its planned anti-dumping measures on EU brandy, in an apparent goodwill gesture, despite determining it had been sold in China at below-market prices.

At the time, the commerce ministry said its probe would end before Jan. 5, 2025, but that it could be extended.

China’s commerce ministry previously said it had found that European distillers had been selling brandy in its 1.4 billion-strong consumer market at a dumping margin in the range of 30.6% to 39% and that its domestic industry had been damaged.

In the EU’s decision to impose tariffs on China-made EVs, the bloc set tariff rates on top of the 10% car import duty ranging from 7.8% for Tesla to 35.3% for SAIC and other producers deemed not to have cooperated with its investigation.

The European Commission has said it is willing to continue negotiating an alternative, even after tariffs are imposed.
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New details emerge of how journalist-turned-spy kept watch on Navalny

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 Ukrainian air defenses down 18 Russian drones

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Turkish port becomes transit hub for people fleeing Lebanon

With most flights out of Lebanon canceled and ticket prices skyrocketing, a small port in Turkey is operating as an alternative route for people fleeing the country. VOA’s Onur Erdogan has more from Mersin province. Bezhan Hamdard narrates.
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Sentence for Belarusian-American extended as Belarus cracks down on dissent

TALLINN, Estonia — A Belarusian-American has had his prison term extended to a total of 13 1/2 years in the latest move in a relentless crackdown on dissent by Belarus’ repressive government, rights activists said Monday.

Yuras Zyankovich, a lawyer who has dual Belarusian and U.S. citizenship, has been held behind bars since 2021. He was convicted on accusations of plotting to assassinate Belarus’ authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko and seize power and given an 11-year sentence in September 2022. He then had six months added to his sentence later that year.

In August, a court in Belarus handed Zyankovich, 46, an additional two-year sentence on charges of “malicious disobedience to the prison administration,” according to the Viasna human rights group, a ruling that became known only now.

The authorities have denied Zyankovich access to a lawyer since March.

Zyankovich repeatedly went on hunger strike and his health has seriously deteriorated in custody, according to Viasna, which said that he faced harassment and intimidation by prison authorities.

Last month, Zyankovich featured in a propaganda film aired by state television that described the purported plot he was convicted of.

The U.S. Embassy in Belarus condemned airing the documentary and rejected the “baseless claims” it contained in a statement in September. It emphasized that it will “continue to advocate for the improved welfare of this detained American.”

In 2020, Belarus was rocked by its largest-ever protests following an election that gave Lukashenko a sixth term in office but was condemned by the opposition and the West as fraudulent. According to Viasna, 65,000 people have been arrested since the protests began and hundreds of thousands have fled Belarus.

Belarus has more than 1,300 political prisoners in Belarus, according to Viasna, including the group’s founder and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Ales Bialiatski.
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Putin to meet Iran president Friday in Turkmenistan 

moscow — Russian President Vladimir Putin is to meet Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian for talks Friday at a forum in the Central Asian country of Turkmenistan, a senior aide said Monday. 

Yury Ushakov, Putin’s aide on foreign policy, told journalists the leaders would meet in Ashgabat while attending an event celebrating a Turkmen poet. 

“This meeting has great significance both for discussing bilateral issues as well as, of course, discussing the sharply escalated situation in the Middle East,” Ushakov said. 

Leaders of Central Asian countries are meeting to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the birth of 18th-century poet Magtymguly Pyragy. 

Putin’s attendance had not been previously announced. 

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin visited Iran last week for talks with Pezeshkian and First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref. 

The talks come as Israel intensively bombs Lebanon, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah, and Russia has evacuated some citizens. 

Russia has close relations with Iran, and Western governments have accused Tehran of supplying Moscow with drones and missiles, which it has repeatedly denied. 

Pezeshkian will also hold talks with Putin during a visit to Russia this month to participate in a BRICS summit of emerging economies. 
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