EUROPEAN COMMUNITY TO SET UP OFFICE IN PEKING
China and the European Community (EC)
signed an agreement on the establishment of an EC office here.
    Chinese vice-foreign minister Zhou Nan and the EC's
external relations commissioner, Willy De Clercq, signed the
accord. EC sources said the office was likely to open in the
second half of this year.
    In 1986 the EC was China's third largest trading partner,
with Chinese imports from the EC worth 5.7 billion dlrs and
exports worth 2.6 billion dlrs.
    De Clercq told the official China Daily that more joint
ventures should be set up in China as a way of reducing China's
trade deficit with the EC.
    The EC's affairs in China are currently looked after by
whichever country holds the group's six-monthly rotating
presidency, now held by the Belgians until the Danes take over
in July.
 REUTER
