In February, the EU’s two most senior officials arrived at a Beijing summit with an expensive favour from their host in mind: tens of billions of euros to help douse the flames of the continent’s debt crisis.
But even as José Manuel Barroso and Herman Van Rompuy, the respective presidents of the European Commission and the European Council, were trying to charm Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, bureaucrats back in Brussels were plotting something completely different. They were gathering evidence for an unprecedented trade case that some observers believe could dramatically escalate tensions with China.
It centres on allegations that Beijing illegally subsidised its fast-growing telecommunications equipment companies, including Huawei Technologies and ZTE, helping them grow at lightning speed to snatch business from western rivals such as Nokia and Alcatel.