During the week of 20 April, a new round of bilateral EU-China negotiations to seal a comprehensive investment agreement have been held by videoconference.
This 28th round made it possible to continue discussions on the offers exchanged in December 2019, according to a European Commission report that was published on Monday 27 April. The document, somewhat laconically, points to “decisive progress” in the chapter on the settlement of disputes between Member States.
On the eve of the round, during a telephone exchange between Commission Vice-President Valdis Dombrovskis and his counterpart, Vice-Premier Liu He, the two sides were reported to have come to an understanding on the need to reach an early agreement to facilitate economic recovery in times of pandemic.
The Chinese press has this time commented extensively on the state of the negotiations, underlining China's desire to speed them up.
A desire to which the uncertain state of the Sino-American relationship is certainly no stranger. While China and the EU had committed themselves in 2019 to finalising negotiations in 2020, it appears that any progress is largely dependent on the state of health of relations between Beijing and Washington (see EUROPE 12437/11).
It should also be noted that the EU is in the process of speeding up the application of its Investment Screening Mechanism, a tool that is largely aimed at monitoring Chinese investments in the EU (see EUROPE 12468/16). The next cycle is due to take place in one month, during the week of 25 May. Read the report: https://bit.ly/2VHVABT (Original version in French by Hermine Donceel)