By: Aaron Rhodes & Jianli Yang – March 31, 2021
Partially Translated from German:
Popularly known under the acronym CAI, the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment between the European Union and China might be a blessing for German and other European business enterprises, but it is a curse on efforts to constrain Chinese expansionism and human rights violations, not to mention Germany’s image among Western democracies.
The CAI was finalized on 30 December 2020, at the end of Germany’s rotating EU-Council presidency, after seven years and thirty-five rounds of negotiations. In November, the Chinese side suddenly became open to concessions, hoping to conclude the deal while Germany was still in charge, and before the EU could agree on a possible joint strategy with the new American administration, which asked EU to slow down the process. Consultations with member states other than France were minimized. Human rights concerns were brushed aside: Also in December, the European Parliament passed the “Resolution on forced labor and the situation of the Uyghurs in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region,”… [Full Article only available in German…]
Source: https://www.zeit.de/2021/14/eu-china-menschenrechte-sanktionen-handel-streit