EU leaders are preparing to call on Beijing to honor its commitment to conclude negotiations on a bilateral investment agreement by the end of the year to open the Chinese market to European companies. At the same time, they are prepared to renew their criticism of Beijing’s push for national security laws in Hong Kong that suppress people’s freedoms.
This information comes from the text of the EU summit statement seen by Reuters. Reuters reported on Thursday (Oct. 1) that the statement said EU leaders will urge Chinese leaders to finalize the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CIA) by the end of the year.
EU Rethinks EU-China Economic and Trade Relations, Reciprocity Particularly Important
European Union leaders are meeting at a summit in Brussels starting Thursday to discuss the EU’s China policy and to rethink bilateral economic and trade relations. They are proposing a “rebalancing” of the relationship, emphasizing the principle of reciprocity in bilateral relations.
Negotiations on investment agreements aim to address “current market access inequalities between the two sides, ensure a level playing field and make meaningful commitments for sustained development.”
Calling China a “systemic competitor,” the statement urged China to “make good on previous commitments to remove market access barriers, make progress on reducing excess capacity, and negotiate industrial subsidies at the WTO.
The negotiations have been going on for more than six years, and the EU has grown impatient with China’s delay in agreeing to open its markets. The EU is demanding that Beijing take concrete action to allow European companies to compete in large sectors of the Chinese economy.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Monday that China remains committed to completing negotiations on an investment agreement by the end of the year.
The European Union, the world’s largest trade bloc, is in a dilemma amid the geopolitical confrontation between the United States and China. It insists on using its limited power to restrict Chinese investment in the EU without a trade war, thus forcing Beijing to change its position.
The EU is China’s largest trading partner, and China is the EU’s second largest trading partner.
From the EU’s perspective, the Hong Kong issue is far from over.
The statement reiterated the EU countries’ “serious concerns” about the human rights situation in China, including the massive persecution of the Uighur Muslim minority in Xinjiang, the repression of Tibetans by the Tibetan authorities, and the situation in Hong Kong. Since the Chinese Communist Party introduced the National Security Law in Hong Kong, the political, rule of law, and social environment in the former British colony has undergone significant changes, with widespread violations of the fundamental freedoms of Hong Kong people. The high degree of autonomy provided for in the Basic Law has been virtually nullified.
This situation makes human rights issues increasingly prominent in EU-China relations. At the EU-China video summit in mid-September, the two sides engaged in a rare direct confrontation on the issue of human rights in China.
EU leaders demanded that China allow international investigators access to Xinjiang and EU officials to visit Tibet, and criticized China’s policy on Hong Kong.
The concerns raised by Hong Kong’s National Security Law continue to grow,” said European Council President Michel, “and the European Union and our member states are responding in the same voice. Hong Kong’s democratic voice needs to be heard, its rights protected and its autonomy preserved,” he said. “We call on China to keep the promises they have made to the people of Hong Kong and to the international community.”
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