Mr. Fu said that he hoped both sides would remove sanctions and finalize the stalled trade deal, known as the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. E.U. diplomats said that in private meetings in recent weeks, Mr. Fu has suggested China could unilaterally lift its sanctions, if it helped unblock the agreement and produced a form of reciprocal response.
“We are open to suggestions if they think that if China does one thing, and we’ll be able to do another, well let’s talk about this, and we’ll be happy to explore all avenues,” Mr. Fu said of the European side.