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China

A new Anglo-Japanese alliance threatens China’s TPP plans
11-Feb-2021 Nikkei Asian Review
As London eyes entry into Quad, Beijing looks to New Zealand for opening.
An EU-China deal for a bygone era
11-Feb-2021 Project Syndicate
EU negotiators made some progress in important areas like market access, investment liberalization, and sustainable development. But can an incremental bilateral agreement like the CAI really govern economic relations with today’s China?
Norway’s youth parties call for end to China free trade talks
11-Feb-2021 Axios
The youth wings of Norway’s main political parties have signed a letter calling for the country to rescind its normalization agreement with China and stop free trade negotiations due to China’s human rights violations.
Regional trade pact will pave way for digital yuan
10-Feb-2021 China Daily
The RCEP will undoubtedly pave the way for China’s new digital yuan expansion throughout Asia.
Limits of the EU-China investment agreement
9-Feb-2021 The Business Times
The CAI will be judged a few years from now by its implementation and the concrete steps China takes to fulfill its promises. If European companies do not perceive any improvement, and China makes no progress on labour standards, the CAI might come to be viewed as another empty gesture.
Australia has a great chance to engage in trade diplomacy with China, and it must take it
9-Feb-2021 The Conversation
Australia’s efforts to end a diplomatic deep freeze with China may not be getting anywhere fast on the surface, but there are nonetheless some signs of a potential thaw.
As UK joins CPTPP hopefuls, S. Korea hurries to prepare application
8-Feb-2021 Hankyoreh
The South Korean government is speeding up its preparations to apply for membership in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after effectively making official its plans for negotiations to join.
Will China help or hurt the AfCFTA?
7-Feb-2021 The Africa Report
African countries want to trade more with their partners on the continent – through the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) agreement that launched operations on 1 January – but will that hurt big trading partners like China?
China is readily considering joining CPTPP: commerce ministry
4-Feb-2021 Xinhua
The country is actively conducting research on joining the CPTPP, the Ministry of Commerce said.
The limits of the EU-China investment agreement
4-Feb-2021 Project Syndicate
The new EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment will eventually be judged by its implementation and the concrete steps China takes to fulfill its promises. If European firms do not perceive any improvement, and China makes no progress on labor standards, the pact might come to represent an empty gesture.
Putting the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) into perspective: Five key points
3-Feb-2021 Institute for International Trade
The CAI will not transform China into an open investment regime nor will it provide new market access opportunities for most European businesses.
Beijing expands Indian Ocean FTAs westward with Mauritius
2-Feb-2021 Nikkei Asia
China’s free trade agreement with the small island-nation of Mauritius came into effect in January, increasing the Asian powerhouse’s presence in the Indian Ocean where its regional rival India has long dominated.
Unsustainable RCEP
1-Feb-2021 The Statesman
If the latest flare ups over the contentious territorial issues and popular anti-China sentiments in the region are anything to go by, it seems likely that uncertainty over domestic ratification of the RCEP agreement by the signatory states would persist in the days ahead.
As largest FDI recipient, China improves business climate for investors
28-Jan-2021 Global Times
As its economy maintains recovery momentum, the country aims to attract foreign investors this year by encouraging investment in more industries, shortening negative lists for foreign investment, and further expanding the free-trade network.
100+ China experts and human rights activists slam “naïve” EU-China deal for “entrenching Europe’s strategic dependency on China”
27-Jan-2021 Hong Kong Watch
The open statement notes that the agreement appears not to take into account the steep deterioration of rights and freedoms in the mainland.
China, New Zealand ink trade deal as Beijing calls for reduced global barriers
26-Jan-2021 Reuters
China and New Zealand signed a deal upgrading a free trade pact to give exports from the Pacific nation greater access to the world’s second-largest economy.
China’s trade with US failed to meet phase-one deal targets last year, and 2021 is not expected to yield more success
25-Jan-2021 South China Morning Post
Analysts point to unrealistic goals in original deal with United States, and overall trade goals may continue to remain elusive in this year.
EU-China trade ties in the spotlight following news of investment pact
22-Jan-2021 IISD
The EU-China agreement-in-principle on investment includes language that would aim to prevent forced technology transfers, and describes a “positive list” approach for market access.
EU-China BIT partial text (Jan 2021)
22-Jan-2021 European Commission
EU-China investment deal lacks teeth on forced labor but could still be derailed
20-Jan-2021 Taiwan News
Potential gains not worth cost of overlooking ’blatant human rights violations’ in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet, and against Taiwan’: French senator