EU Parliament to vote on freezing China deal over Uighur abuse

BRUSSELS • European Union lawmakers will vote to formally halt an investment agreement with China in response to sanctions against members of the bloc, Politico has reported, adding to growing tensions between Brussels and Beijing.

The motion freezing the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) is expected to pass today, the news outlet said, citing a draft of the document.

It will demand that China lift sanctions before any progress is made on the deal, which took seven years to negotiate, and urge the bloc to better cooperate with the US, Politico reported.

Worries over ratification of the EU-China investment deal arose in March, when China retaliated against the EU, US and Britain over sanctions related to allegations of human rights abuses in the western region of Xinjiang.

Beijing said at the time that it would punish 10 individuals and four entities in the EU, saying the measures "harm China's sovereignty and interests".

"The European Parliament action will just put a label on what was already clear since China imposed supersized sanctions on European parliamentarians," said Mr Joerg Wuttke, head of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China.

"The CAI took seven years to negotiate. Unfortunately, it might take another seven to be ratified."

China has been criticised by Western governments over its treatment of Muslim Uighurs and other minorities in Xinjiang.

A panel of UN experts in 2019 said an estimated one million people have been sent to counter-terrorism internment facilities in the region, part of a set of policies that the United States has said amount to genocide.

China has hit back at the charges, saying it is addressing a terrorism issue that reached its peak around 2014, when knife-wielding attackers killed and injured dozens of people in a train station in Kunming.

Beijing says its activities in Xinjiang are aimed at building infrastructure and providing economic and educational opportunities.

The move by the EU lawmakers comes just before US President Joe Biden attends a summit in Brussels next month, marking his first foreign trip as the nation's leader.

Mr Biden and his European counterparts are set to discuss trade cooperation, the White House said. It is likely that China will come up in the talks. Beijing's ties with Europe have been deteriorating recently, with Italy blocking planned acquisitions by Chinese firms and France's junior minister for European affairs saying his country would not tolerate "threats and intimidation" from China.

The EU Parliament's motion says that any trade agreements with Taiwan "should not be held hostage" by the deal with China, Politico reported. It also repeats a request that Europe "swiftly finalise a supply-chain business advisory with guidance for companies on the exposure to risk of using Uighur forced labour", the report said.

BLOOMBERG