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China-EU relations
ChinaDiplomacy

EU ‘has no interest’ in reviving stalled investment deal with China, says trade official

Head of bloc’s trade delegation in Beijing tells forum the two sides should focus on Brussels’ long-standing concerns such as overcapacity

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The EU wants China to address its concerns about state subsidies and overcapacity. Photo: EPA-EFE
Dewey Simin Beijing
The European Union has “no intention” of trying to revive a stalled investment deal with China, according to a senior diplomatic official, who insisted the focus should be on making “progress on existing problems” instead.

Marjut Hannonen, head of trade for the European Union’s delegation in Beijing, told a panel discussion on Wednesday that trade ties with China had “steadily deteriorated” in the past 15 to 20 years as it put in place more barriers for business.

Chinese officials, including the former ambassador to the EU, Fu Cong, have been lobbying to revise talks on the stalled Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI).

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The agreement was initially touted as a landmark deal between the two sides, but in 2021 the European Parliament voted to delay ratification over a round of tit-for-tat sanctions triggered by alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang, accusations Beijing denies.

Recently, ties between the EU and Beijing have shown some signs of thawing and last month Chinese sanctions on five members of the European Parliament and on the parliament’s subcommittee on human rights were lifted – prompting speculation that Beijing was hoping to revive talks on the deal.
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But when asked about the suggestion that negotiations on the investment deal could resume, Hannonen said: “The European side has no interest in doing anything on the CAI. There are no intentions in this direction.

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