China's Xi Jinping, top EU officials hold meeting on long-awaited investment deal

The European Union leaders and Chinese President Xi Jinping are currently holding a meeting via videoconference to conclude the negotiations on the comprehensive agreement on investments. The meeting is being attended by the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

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Merkel wants negotiations done before passing presidency

The long-running negotiations for the investment deal, which are actively supported by Merkel, is expected to conclude today before the German Chancellor hands over the Presidency of the Council to Portugal. However, the agreement would then still have to withstand the scrutiny of the European Parliament and EU governments before being signed into law. The entire process is expected to take at least until the end of 2022. 

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According to reports, the agreement has failed to completely address the issue of workers' rights in China. The last meeting between Beijing, Brussels, and Berlin took place on September 14, which saw progress being made on several key issues, including rules regulating the behaviour of state-owned-enterprises, forced technology transfer, and on the transparency of subsidies.

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During the earlier meeting, the EU called on China to assume greater responsibility in upholding the rules-based international system. The EU leaders also raised the issue of Hong Kong as well as the deterioration of the human rights situation, including the treatment of minorities in Xinjiang and Tibet. Before today's call, the EU had issued a statement regarding the arrest of citizen journalist Zhang Zhan for reporting about the poor handling of COVID-19 in Wuhan, and also called on China to immediately release the Hong Kong 12. 

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