The EU and China opened the year on a high note. In December, the two inked the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), a deal designed to further open both markets to investors. But though it signaled a rare mutual win in the relationship, criticism followed, and not just from a frustrated Joe Biden administration, which had lobbied the European Commission, the union’s executive body, to hold off on sealing the deal until after Biden’s inauguration. A majority of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) issued a swift condemnation, accusing the commission of violating the trust of the United States and tarnishing the EU’s reputation on human rights.
onsdag 1. desember 2021
The growing rift between Europe and China
On November 4, Raphael Glücksmann, a French member of the European Parliament, concluded his delegation’s visit to Taiwan beside Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen by declaring, “Europe is standing with you.” The paradigm shift in Europe’s thinking on China has been obvious. 2021 has seen the EU freeze a landmark investment deal with Beijing, sanction the country over human rights abuses in Xinjiang, and send its first official parliamentary delegation to Taiwan. Once criticized as “soft on China,” with a foreign policy that was a “failure,” the normally staid European Union has changed its tune on the world’s burgeoning superpower — and may be setting an example for the rest of the world.
The EU and China opened the year on a high note. In December, the two inked the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), a deal designed to further open both markets to investors. But though it signaled a rare mutual win in the relationship, criticism followed, and not just from a frustrated Joe Biden administration, which had lobbied the European Commission, the union’s executive body, to hold off on sealing the deal until after Biden’s inauguration. A majority of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) issued a swift condemnation, accusing the commission of violating the trust of the United States and tarnishing the EU’s reputation on human rights.
The EU and China opened the year on a high note. In December, the two inked the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), a deal designed to further open both markets to investors. But though it signaled a rare mutual win in the relationship, criticism followed, and not just from a frustrated Joe Biden administration, which had lobbied the European Commission, the union’s executive body, to hold off on sealing the deal until after Biden’s inauguration. A majority of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) issued a swift condemnation, accusing the commission of violating the trust of the United States and tarnishing the EU’s reputation on human rights.
