Czech Business Today

During the September virtual summit, the leaders of the EU and China agreed to speed up negotiations to conclude a long-standing investment deal. They stressed their wish for more fairness and balanced relationship, in other words for reciprocity and a level playing field.

Commission President Ursula von der Leyen revealed that an agreement on three important issues has been reached. The agreement concerns the disciplines regarding the behaviours of state-owned enterprises, technology transfer, and transparency of subsidies. Progress has also been made on issues such as forced technology transfer.

However, access to sectors such as telecoms, IT, health, financial services and manufacturing remain difficult. More discussion is also needed in the area of market access and sustainable development. According to the chief of the Commission, China needs to allow “rebalancing of the asymmetry” in access and convince Europe that it’s worth having an investment agreement. Ahead of the discussions, the two sides signed an agreement to protect each other’s exported food and drink items from usurpation and imitation.

According to the deal, they pledged to respect the names, or geographical indications (GI – a label used on a product to specify its origin) of 100 European regional food designations and 100 Chinese equivalents. Concerns over Beijing´s respect for human rights and its treatment of Hong Kong have also been raised by the Europeans.

In the light of the EU climatic discussion, the EU representatives pressed the Chinese to aim for climate neutrality by 2060 or eventually face punitive carbon tariffs. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who represented the German presidency in the Council at the meeting, announced that the next EU-China summit will take place in Brussels next year.