The EU announced a comprehensive investment agreement in principle with China (EU-China agreement CAI) at the end of 2020, and the EU Directorate General for Trade published part of the text of this agreement on the 22nd of this month, but the process of legal and technical amendments and changes. However, including “Ma Ying-jeou’s mentor” Kong Jierong, Georgetown University, the University of Nottingham, the University of London, the London School of Economics and Political Science and other countries gathered more than a hundred scholars signed a joint protest, saying that the agreement on the Chinese Communist Party there is a naive false imagination, once the final signing of the fear of deepening Europe’s dependence on China.
The EU published the text including chapters on the objectives and definitions of the agreement, investment liberalization, regulatory framework, investment and sustainable development and dispute settlement. The Central News Agency (CNA) reported that the EU had previously pointed out that it was negotiating with China on market access for more industries, including manufacturing, new energy vehicles, finance, telecommunications, computers, containers, air transport, and so on. The newly released text shows that the two sides agreed to remove restrictions on the number of enterprises engaged in a particular economic activity, the total number of personnel employed in a particular sector or subsector, shares and joint ventures.
However, human rights supporters, including the European Parliament and other countries, have long been concerned about the issue of forced labor by the Chinese Communist Party of Xinjiang‘s Uighurs and have called for the agreement with China to include provisions that would fully comply with international conventions prohibiting forced labor. However, the agreement contains no specific commitments from the Chinese Communist Party, except that it supports a high level of environmental and labor rights protection to promote investment, and that both parties agree to appropriate dialogue and cooperation on labor issues of common concern.
In response, more than 100 scholars and civic groups have called for a joint protest against the EU-China Investment Agreement, calling for support and response! If free trade is facilitated at the expense of freedom, the result will not be freedom, nor will the fruits of it belong to the general public.
The joint statement says: “The EU-China Investment Agreement at this point in Time and with this content sends the signal that European political leaders are fighting for access to the Chinese market at the expense of common regional values and national security. This exchange of benefits is not only mistimed in terms of timing, but is based on a naive and false imagination of the character of the Chinese Communist Party. It deepens Europe’s original strategic dependence on China and goes against Europe’s fundamental core values.
This agreement also sends a wrong signal to the world. Especially at a time when the democratic world is beginning to confront the challenges posed by the Chinese Communist Party to liberal democracy and the international order, such a deal is a major blow to those who are striving for a more united and coordinated response. And to do so just days before a new U.S. administration takes office, and before a new administration that is about to revitalize the Pan-Atlantic Alliance takes office, is, simply put, extremely unfortunate.
Leading U.S. China expert Jay Rong Kong opposes the EU-China agreement Chart
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