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China-EU

Since 2012, China has been trying to get the European Union to agree to initiate bilateral free trade agreement talks. China is absent from both the transpacific (TPP) and the transatlantic (TTIP) trade deals and wants "in" on a similarly large pact itself in order to avoid losing out on trade flows or to have to follow new "global" standards set by others. European firms, for their part, want greater openings into China and a more even playing field with domestic companies, especially State-owned enterprises.

In March 2014, Brussels agreed that once an EU-China investment treaty is concluded it will consider broader trade talks with Beijing. The investment treaty negotiations began just a few months prior, in November 2013. Once finalised, this BIT willl replace the 26 existing BITs that China has signed over the years with individual EU member states.

The EU is China’s largest trading partner, while China is the EU’s second export market.

July 2014
Photo: European External Action Service - EEAS / CC BY-NC 2.0


An EU-China deal for a bygone era
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?
Limits of the EU-China investment agreement
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.
The limits of the EU-China investment agreement
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
The CAI will not transform China into an open investment regime nor will it provide new market access opportunities for most European businesses.
100+ China experts and human rights activists slam “naïve” EU-China deal for “entrenching Europe’s strategic dependency on China”
The open statement notes that the agreement appears not to take into account the steep deterioration of rights and freedoms in the mainland.
EU-China trade ties in the spotlight following news of investment pact
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 investment deal lacks teeth on forced labor but could still be derailed
Potential gains not worth cost of overlooking ’blatant human rights violations’ in Xinjiang, Hong Kong, Tibet, and against Taiwan’: French senator
EU will not ask China to sign forced labor ban before ratifying investment deal, says French minister
France will insist on a ‘calendar’ for Beijing’s reforms instead.
China tried to punish European states for Huawei bans by adding eleventh-hour rule to EU investment deal
Draft text shows Beijing looked to withhold telecoms sector benefits to firms from countries with restrictions on Chinese telecoms companies.
China and EU leaders strike investment deal, but political hurdles await
The agreement, which would roll back restrictions on investment, faces some opposition in Europe and objections from the Biden camp.