After the European Parliament halted ratification of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) last week, the foreign ministers of four European nations have accepted an invitation from Beijing in an attempt to salvage bilateral trade relations with the economic giant.
On Saturday, the chief diplomats from Serbia and from EU member states Ireland, Poland, and Hungary will visit Beijing and meet separately with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian told reporters.
Zhao described the four nations as “China's important cooperation partners in Europe,” noting that during the visit they will discuss “bilateral relations, regional cooperation, China-Europe relations and other issues of common concern.”
“China hopes to enhance political mutual trust and deepen pragmatic cooperation with the above four countries through this visit, and jointly promote post-pandemic economic recovery, so as to inject new impetus to China's relations with the four countries, and achieve comprehensive and balanced development of China-Europe relations,” he added.
The EP froze ratification of CAI, initially agreed to by negotiators in December after seven years of talks, after Beijing sanctioned 10 EU politicians as well as think tanks and diplomatic entities in March. Those sanctions were, in turn, in response to sanctions imposed against China by the US, EU, UK, and Canada over alleged human rights abuses in Xinjiang.
The deal was intended to put EU companies on an equal footing with their Chinese counterparts and solidify China’s status as a trading partner for the bloc.
EU lawmakers have said China must lift the sanctions if it wants the CAI to be ratified, but so far Beijing has not backed down on what it considers to be an internal matter, according to the South China Morning Post.
HJ/Sputnik
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