While U.S. and Chinese foreign ministers vied for the right to speak at a Security Council video conference, the European Union also cooled relations with China and moved closer to India. Europe and India agreed to restart long-stalled negotiations on a free trade agreement. If an agreement is finally reached, it would be a boon for both economies, especially at a time when both are seeking to rebuild after being hit by the devastation of the epidemic pandemic.
Trade talks between the EU and India were suspended in 2013 due to persistent differences over tariff cuts, intellectual property rights and other issues. But EU Council President Charles Michel and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi reached a consensus to restart trade talks at an online summit this Saturday (May 8) and also hope to boost cooperation in key areas including digitalization, health and climate change. Speaking after the summit, EU Council President Michel said, “We agreed today on concrete steps to expand our strategic partnership. We agreed to launch negotiations on agreements on mutually enhanced trade, investment protection and geographical indications.”
Bloomberg reported that the EU’s push to deepen ties with India, the world’s largest democracy, and other Asian countries comes amid growing tensions between the EU and Beijing, with China’s announcement of sanctions against European officials causing the EU to question whether its recent investment deal with Beijing was the right one.
According to the European Commission, the EU’s total trade in goods and services in 2020 will be about 96 billion euros ($117 billion), of which about 11 percent will be with India, second only to China and the United States.
Sources said: In addition to trade talks, Europe and India have agreed to start negotiations on two other separate agreements on investment protection and geographical indications – agreements that could help protect products with specific origins such as Champagne or Parma ham. However, EU officials also warned that despite the willingness to re-engage in trade talks, there is still limited progress in many key areas, including India’s tariffs on goods, particularly automobiles and intellectual property rights.
For India, the talks with the EU come at a time when the country is experiencing the peak of the new crown epidemic, which is likely to be the deadliest. India and the EU will seek to establish a framework for cooperation to address the pandemic and ensure access to virus vaccines, diagnostics and treatment.
This European-Indian resumption of negotiations comes at a time when the U.S. proposal to suspend relinquishing intellectual property rights to the coronavirus vaccine has been supported by countries including India, while the EU, particularly Germany, has expressed skepticism. Even if the debate over the cancellation of the vaccine patent is over, it will require a long set of procedures at the World Trade Organization.
Looking back at EU-China relations, but at a difficult time, the EU-China agreement has been frozen
The European Union sanctioned four Chinese officials in March this year on the grounds of persecution of ethnic minorities in Xinjiang, and China then imposed retaliatory sanctions on European politicians, academics and research institutions, causing anger in European politics and cooling political relations.
Valdis Dombrovskis, vice president of the European Union’s executive committee, told AFP on May 4 that the European Commission had temporarily shelved its efforts to approve an investment agreement with China. We have suspended political contacts in a sense at the moment”, he said. European Union Executive Commissioner Breton (Thierry Breton) further said on May 6, the EU and China to negotiate a comprehensive investment agreement for many years, rather than an agreement, rather than “intention”, into reality before it may be a long time.
These remarks are the clearest signal yet that the political climate in Europe and China has deteriorated rapidly over the past four months, and that despite intense pressure from Germany to complete the agreement, it has been abandoned because MEPs vowed never to ratify it if China does not withdraw its sanctions decision.
Asked if the EU-China investment deal would go ahead, a spokesman for the European Commission’s executive vice president said, “The agreement now needs to be legally reviewed before it can be submitted for adoption and approval. However, the ratification process (of the investment agreement) cannot be divorced from the evolving nature of the broader Europe-China relationship.” “It is unacceptable and regrettable that China is imposing retaliatory sanctions against members of the European Parliament and the entire parliamentary committee. The prospect of ratification of the agreement will depend on how the situation evolves.”
In addition, EU Ambassador to China Nicolas Chapuis expressed his views on EU-China relations in front of the EU, guests and Chinese officials at the Europe Day event on May 7, saying that the EU and China have engaged during the storm of the global pandemic of the epidemic, including several EU-China leaders’ summits, the establishment of high-level dialogues in the fields of environment and climate and digital, the signing of the Geographical Indications The EU and China have engaged in the midst of the global pandemic, including numerous European and Chinese leaders’ summits, high-level dialogues in the environment and climate and digital sectors, the signing of a geographical indications agreement, and the completion of seven years of negotiations on a comprehensive investment agreement. But he stressed that, unfortunately, European-Chinese relations, even in this unprecedented context, are still not sufficient to overcome the growing divergence of views on fundamental values.
The EU remains committed to working with China to rebalance bilateral economic relations, address global challenges and regional security issues, but the EU has concerns about human rights and fundamental freedoms in China and will continue to raise and address these issues through appropriate channels and actions, said Yu Bai. Looking ahead, he called on China to better understand the EU’s position and to create the political space needed for both sides to advance common goals “while respecting each other and not shying away from our concerns”. The European Union is not weak, he said, but neither is it overestimated and pragmatic about the geopolitical status quo; Europeans are hopeful and ambitious to face a safer and more equal world.
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