On Thursday (May 20), the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly to freeze the China-EU investment deal, prompting an urgent response from Beijing. The Communist Party’s foreign ministry urged dialogue and cooperation, while Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping urged countries at an EU-led forum on Friday to focus on unity in the fight against the epidemic rather than “political maneuvering.
Friday’s global health summit in Rome was organized by the European Commission and the current Italian presidency of the G-20, an EU member state.
Addressing the summit via video link from Beijing, Xi urged countries to “unite and cooperate” to overcome the epidemic and firmly oppose attempts to politicize, label and stigmatize it.
Xi’s speech came a day after the European Parliament voted to freeze discussion and ratification of the China-EU Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI).
According to the Nikkei Asian Review, the European Parliament’s postponement of the investment agreement was seen as a setback for Xi. Xi pushed for the comprehensive agreement with the European Commission, the EU’s executive body, in December last year during the U.S.-China trade war.
But the agreement still needs to be approved by the European Parliament before it can become law. The European Parliament’s decision to freeze ratification on Thursday was aimed at pressuring the Communist Party to lift retaliatory sanctions against Europe.
On March 22, the European Union announced sanctions against Chinese Communist Party officials and entities for human rights violations in Xinjiang. The Chinese Communist Party then immediately announced sanctions against European parliamentarians, academics and think tanks, banning them from entering mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. This move sparked strong discontent in the EU. At the time, some EU lawmakers said they wanted to block the China-EU investment agreement.
EU lawmakers said the Chinese Communist Party’s sanctions against the EU were not based on international law, while the EU’s sanctions against Chinese Communist Party officials were based on human rights violations as defined in a UN treaty.
The CCP mission to the EU issued a statement the same day calling on the EU to return to cooperation after the European Parliament passed a freeze on the investment agreement Thursday.
“China has always had a sincere intention to promote cooperation with the EU. We hope that the EU side will work together with us in the same direction.” A spokesman for the Chinese Communist Party mission said.
Xi told an EU-led forum Friday that “political maneuvering” would only disrupt international cooperation in the fight against the epidemic.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said Friday that China has “sincere intentions” to develop Sino-European relations and that “dialogue and cooperation are the right way to go. He also urged both sides to return to “the right track of dialogue and cooperation.
German Environmental Protection Minister Reinhard Buetikofer said that “the Chinese side is very keen to reach a Comprehensive Investment Agreement, but they have made a mistake and continue to underestimate the European Parliament’s determination to defend European interests and values.”
Lotte Leicht, director of Human Rights Watch’s EU branch, said Thursday that the EU has imposed sanctions on Communist Party officials and entities for crimes against humanity in Xinjiang. Beijing, in turn, has retaliated and imposed sanctions on EU lawmakers and organizations that have spoken out against CCP abuses. And today, the European Parliament said it had had enough of China’s (CCP) bullying and froze the European Parliament’s ratification action on the Comprehensive Investment Agreement.
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