Europe’s quest for strategic autonomy and economic security has come with repeated calls to reduce critical dependencies on ‘systemic rivals’ such as China. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has called for de-risking, including ‘stress-testing our relationship to see where the greatest threats lie concerning our resilience, long-term prosperity and security’. […]
The EU has long been concerned about sustainable development in China, i.e. the ‘green’ pillar (environment & climate) and in the ‘social’ pillar (core labour standards and social protection). The EU and China have pursued active and ever more intense cooperation in these areas for some 20-25 years. However, as the EU and China do […]
Striking a different note from most commentators on the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), this paper finds that the Agreement does deliver on the EU’s negotiation mandate. It notes that much criticism of the CAI surfaced before the provisional agreement was actually published. This text-based analysis considers how the Agreement lifts the barriers to […]