After seven long years of negotiations, China and the European Union announced on December 30 that they have reached a Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI). It is a hugely consequential event for the world economy and international politics. […]
The agreement envisages that China will open up to provide an unprecedented market access for EU investors, giving them certainty and predictability for their operations and a level playing field with transparency and accountability, apart from committing on environment and climate and on labour standards. The agreement also provides for a robust enforcement and monitoring mechanism.
The European Commission’s press release outlining the key elements of the agreement is here. The Chinese commentaries describe the agreement as “an extraordinary boost for pragmatic cooperation” between the EU and its largest trading partner China based on win-win approach, to mutual benefit, being “the basic logic in the era of globalisation”. (here and here) […]
In geopolitical terms, the CAI flags that Europe intends to be strategically independent. It shatters India’s foreign policy assumptions that Europe is preparing to join the US-led “Indo-Pacific” strategy to contain China. The heart of the matter is that Europe is backing out of the US project for a binary world. Läs artikel