European Union officials have “suspended” their attempt to ratify a controversial investment deal with China in a sign of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s waning influence and growing trans-Atlantic anger at Beijing’s human rights abuses.
“We now in a sense have suspended … political outreach activities from the European Commission side,” EU Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis told Agence France-Presse.
That development marks a setback for Merkel, who spearheaded the charge to conclude negotiations over the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment in December, even as then-incoming President Joe Biden’s team urged European officials to postpone the talks. Merkel and leading figures within the EU forged ahead, but a subsequent decision to join the United States in sanctioning some of the Chinese communist officials individuals responsible for atrocities against the Uyghur Muslims opened a new rift between Brussels and Beijing — one that Merkel sought to close as recently as last week.
“Well, coming in the wake of the German-Chinese government consultations last week which [Merkel] used to push for early ratification of [the China investment deal], this amounts to a very much deserved slap down,” Germany’s Reinhard Buetikofer, who heads the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China, tweeted Tuesday. “She should think again how she positions Germany as long as she is still there.”
BIDEN’S MOVES AGAINST CHINA REMIND EUROPE IT DOESN’T HAVE TRUMP TO KICK AROUND ANYMORE
Buetikofer was “number one on China’s sanctions list,” as Chinese state media put it, when Beijing targeted 10 individuals and four entities in retaliation for Western sanctions on behalf of the long-suffering Uyghurs.
“It’s clear in the current situation with the EU sanctions in place against China and Chinese countersanctions in place, including against members of European Parliament [that] the environment is not conducive for ratification of the agreement,” Dombrovskis said.
Biden is trying to assemble an “alliance of democracies” to counter Chinese communist threats — an initiative that builds on former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s efforts to “build out a coalition” of allies.
“When it comes to trade and commerce, we want to see a race to the top, not a race to the bottom when it comes to basic investment standards, when it comes to making sure that we’re paying mind to the environment, when we’re making sure that we’re protecting the rights of workers, when we’re protecting intellectual property and technology theft,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Financial Times on Tuesday. “When countries are doing that together, it’s more likely that China will have to play by those rules, not rules it arbitrarily sets that prove to be a race to the bottom, not the top.”
Buetikofer, for his part, reveled in the setback not only for China but for Merkel, who is also at odds with the U.S. over her support for Nord Stream 2, a controversial Russia-Germany pipeline.
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“Rarely has a German Chancellor been this isolated within Europe!” he tweeted. “Good news for all those that hope for a new beginning after the September elections.”
