The text of the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CIA) published by the European Union shows that while China has committed to providing market access and improving the competitive environment and other treatment to European companies, it has not ratified substantive elements such as international conventions related to the prohibition of forced labor. The EU Directorate General for Trade, for its part, stressed that the terms of the agreement may also be amended for legal and technical reasons.
According to a report by Taiwan‘s Central News Agency from Brussels on Saturday, the newly released text of the agreement includes chapters on the agreement’s objectives, definitions, investment liberalization, regulatory framework, investment and sustainable development, and dispute settlement. Among them, the agreement addresses labor issues, stating that it supports the promotion of investment with a high level of environment and protection of labor rights, and the contracting parties agree to conduct appropriate dialogue and cooperation on labor issues of common concern. However, if the parties have not yet ratified the relevant fundamental conventions of the International Labor Organization (ILO), they should continue to do so. The text of the agreement does not contain a specific commitment from China.
After the EU and China announced a “comprehensive investment agreement” in principle late last year, China’s forced exports of labor products from Xinjiang and mass arrests of pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong have sparked international and internal EU dissatisfaction with the agreement. The European Parliament recently adopted a resolution regretting that the EU-China agreement does not reflect the requirement to use investment negotiations as a tool to promote human rights.
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