China and the EU reached an “investment agreement” on the 30th, with the hope that both sides will achieve significant economic and political victories from it. However, an article by the Moore Institute, a European think tank, suggests that the investment agreement could turn the EU into a laboratory for “Chinese Communist globalization.
According to an article by Laurent Amelot, a researcher at the Moore Institute published in French newspaper l’Opinion, after seven years of negotiations, the EU and China will finally agree on an “investment agreement”, which is undoubtedly a “Christmas present” for EU leader and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. However, Amelo said that other member states may not be satisfied with the content of the agreement, as many topics were left out or not sufficiently discussed during the discussion process, including business subsidies, respect for intellectual property rights, technology transfer, public works bidding, settlement of commercial disputes and labor law.
Amelo noted that for the Chinese Communist Party, the signing of the agreement amounted to a diplomatic victory. One, it allows the outside world to assume that the EU acquiesces to the CCP’s continued repression of Tibet, Uighurs and all those who oppose the Communist Party, and to take a hard line against Hong Kong, Taiwan, India and other countries that dislike the CCP. Secondly, it reflects the operation of the CCP’s diplomatic tactics, giving in on less important points but never backing down on key cores and undermining the other camp to create suspicion between them, which gives the CCP an advantage in negotiations with various targets.
Amelo said that if China’s domestic demand is the primary focus and its supply chain and technological autonomy are domestically oriented, the only purpose of encouraging FDI is to benefit China’s domestic growth. Moreover, Chinese consumers, driven by patriotism, will mostly choose Chinese products, and the market space for foreign goods is quite narrow. Amelo stressed that the EU should see the signs that the Chinese market is closing down and use its strong financial resources to support local companies or acquire foreign companies that are locked out to gain access to technological resources.
Amelo warned that EU countries must remember that the Chinese Communist Party is a strategic adversary and that the EU must retain its independence and must strengthen its oversight, monitoring and control tools for foreign direct investment. It must also develop economic sovereignty, asset protection and national security. Otherwise, the EU could become a Western laboratory for Chinese Communist globalization.
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