In Paris, it is conceded that the technical scope of the agreement is “modest”, but its political content is “new”, thanks to commitments in the social or climatic field.
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No press conference. No text. We will therefore have to take the word of the European leaders who, like Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, believe that the Comprehensive Investment Agreement with China “will offer European investors unprecedented access to the market. Chinese “. During a video conference held on Wednesday, December 30, Ursula von der Leyen, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, but also French President Emmanuel Macron, concluded, with Xi Jinping, President of China, an “agreement in principle”, closing negotiations that had lasted since 2013.
Obtain better access to the Chinese market, which is now unbalanced, while ensuring fairer conditions of competition: such are the goals that the Europeans pursued during these negotiations. But it is the issue of forced labor and the Uighurs that has interfered in the debates until the last days. “The commitment of China to ratify the fundamental conventions of the ILO [International Labor Organization] on the fight against forced labor was necessary. This is what we have achieved,” said Twitter Franck Riester, French Minister for Trade.
A piece of the puzzle
En in reality, China’s commitment is less firm. It is limited to “continuous and sustained efforts towards the ratification” of these conventions. “China is absolutely not bound by this commitment which has nothing concrete”, regrets Janka Oertel, of the European Council of International Relations (ECFR). A diplomat puts it into perspective: “This investment agreement should not be counted on to change China. The agreement is only one piece of the puzzle.” The different pieces of the puzzle are, according to European sources, the ” other instruments “available to act on forced labor, such as the very recent EU sanctions regime on human rights.” “The Chinese concessions are not enough, but they allow to move forward”, judges at the Elysee Palace.
Brussels insists that China has “never gone so far “in the opening of its markets. The agreement covers various manufacturing sectors, in particular electric or hybrid automobiles. Private hospitals are opening up to European investments in certain large cities, such as Shanghai or Beijing. Telecommunications, financial services, cloud services, those related to air travel like online reservation systems are included in the deal.
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