Beijing and
Brussels agree to open Chinese market to European investment
The historic agreement was confirmed on Wednesday by
Chinese President Xi Jinping and European Commission President Ursula von derLeyen.
Vincent Lawrence
Vicente Lourenço
vicentelourenco@negocios.pt
December 30, 2020
at 14:11
The European
Union and China have reached a historic agreement representing the opening up
of the world's second largest economy to European investment. Since 2013, the
two powers have been in dialogue to try to reach an investment agreement.
The announcement
was made on Wednesday by Chinese President Xi Jinping and European Commission
President Ursula von der Leyen.
The agreement
opens the Chinese market to European investment, while also addressing
practices that raise concerns in Brussels, including illegal subsidies granted
by Beijing to various industries, state control of various companies and forced
technology transfer.
According to
Brussels, this political agreement "will create a better balance in
EU-China trade relations", since "the EU has traditionally been much
more open than China to foreign investment".
Beijing "is
now committed to opening up to the EU in a number of key sectors" and to
ensuring "fair treatment" of European companies so that they can
compete on an equal footing, the Commission said.
Vladis Dombrovskis,
vice-president of the European Commission, told the British newspaper Financial
Times that it was the "most ambitious agreement ever between China and
another power."
"We hope
that from now on European companies can have greater confidence in their
operations," he said, noting that the agreement implies a "change in
the rules of the game, given that for a long time trade relations with China
have been unbalanced."
For its part,
China sees a long-standing ambition fulfilled by ensuring access to the
European renewable energy market.
The agreement is
also proof that European business is increasingly focused on the Asian market,
despite criticism from Brussels of Xi Jinping's government for alleged human
rights violations.
However, the
Financial Times points out that the agreement could create tension between the
European Union and the Biden administration. The Us president-elect has
stressed the importance of transatlantic cooperation to meet Beijing's might.
China has sought
to assert itself as the great power of the 21st century and the strengthening
of trade ties with the European Union is yet another geopolitical maneuver of
the great middle empire.
Bloomberg writes
that the document is expected to take effect in 2022.
News of the
agreement is however a surprise given the evolution of relations between the
two powers in 2020. This year, Brussels publicly repudiated Beijing's
interference in Hong Kong and accused Xi Jinping's government of launching a
disinformation campaign about the new coroanvirus.
According to a
joint communiqué from the Commission and the Council, during today's
videoconference the leaders also addressed other dossiers, including the fight
against climate change, the covid-19 pandemic, Hong Kong and human rights, with
European leaders welcoming "important progress on a number of key
issues", but "continuing expectations and concerns in other
areas", without specifying.
The European
Union also reiterated the invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping for an
EU-China summit at the highest level, with the participation of heads of state
and government of the 27, which was scheduled for this year but was postponed
due to covid-19, and should then take place in Brussels in 2021, on a date yet
to be defined.
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