[ad_1]
Of: TT
Published:
1 of 3 | Photo: Pang Xinglei / AP / TT
A crown meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council Permanent President Charles Michel, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen this fall. Leaders are now reported to be close to agreeing on an investment deal.
EU member states and China have agreed on the framework for the investment deal with China negotiated for several years.
The deal aims to give European companies better access to the giant market in the east, but the car manufacturing, aviation and healthcare sectors are limited, according to the media.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen says on Twitter that the parties have reached a framework agreement to ensure more balanced trade and trade opportunities.
According to Chinese President Xi Jinping, the deal will lead to larger markets for both Chinese and European investment.
Foreign Trade Minister Anna Hallberg (S) said earlier in the day that a deal was “very close.”
– This is an important agreement for the EU and China. It is also an important agreement for Sweden. Now the EU and China must first agree on a general level, he told a Brexit news conference.
At the same time, Beijing reported “great successes” in the talks.
During the day, a web summit was held between Xi Jinping, Ursula von der Leyen and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, President of the Presidency, where the agreement is said to have been reached.
Electric cars welcome
According to the South China Morning Post, which saw a draft agreement since mid-December, Beijing is opening the doors to the world’s second-largest economy for manufacturing industries, banks, accounting firms, real estate companies, telecommunications companies and consultants from Europe, among others.
But in the case of the automobile industry, the construction of new facilities that manufacture traditional vehicles with fuel engines is prohibited. However, investments in new factories for electric cars and other electric vehicles are allowed if the company’s domestic facilities have reached their production limit, the newspaper writes. This is described as important to the German car giant.
In the health sector, European companies can build private hospitals and clinics in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen. But elsewhere, these investments must be made in the form of collaborative projects with Chinese companies.
Although the aviation industry is subject to restrictions, individual foreign investors cannot own more than 25 percent of these companies. Only Chinese airlines can fly on domestic routes and European airlines are prohibited from competing with Chinese air traffic controllers. Other sensitive industries like research and development and monitoring are also closed to Europeans, according to the draft agreement.
Germany is pushing
Negotiations have been ongoing since 2014. In addition to purely commercial issues, which included intellectual property rights, they have been overshadowed by different views on human rights, the Hong Kong democracy movement, freedom of expression and industrial espionage.
But Germany, which until the turn of the year presides over the EU Council of Ministers, has pushed for the investment agreement to materialize. At an ambassador-level meeting on Monday, Berlin announced that no member had objected and that “the path to political approval (of the deal) is open,” a diplomat told the AFP news agency.
The diplomat added that “positive developments” in recent talks on forced labor in Chinese agriculture have helped to untie knots.
Polish doubt
No EU member is said to have opposed the meeting, but Poland’s ambassador to the EU, Andrzej Sados, later said he “voiced his doubts” when Germany suddenly put the issue on the agenda.
– We should not act too fast after seven years of tough negotiations. For such an issue to be suddenly added to the agenda of a meeting of EU ambassadors in Brussels, he had never heard of such a thing, he tells AFP.
Reuters also writes that EU officials have said the deal is likely to be blocked this week. Recent weeks of talks are said to have resulted in better competitive conditions and investment protection.
However, despite the agreement, it will take months to formulate the legal details of the final texts. The agreement will then be ratified, which means the process will likely take another year.
Published:
