MapInfluence analyst Ivana Karásková recently contributed to an appeal to the European Council and leaders of the EU to not be too hasty in its assent to a new comprehensive agreement on investment with China.
From the moment that the deal is signed, Europe will thus lose leverage not only on issues critical for its future competitiveness but also on fundamental value issues – ranging from human rights to the future of coal power plants.
This has been a year in which China has rescinded its international treaty over Hong Kong. It has been a year during which China clashed on the border with India, engaged in military coercion of Taiwan, and economic coercion against Australia.
From Beijing’s perspective, having the EU sign an investment treaty after this sequence of events and in the phrase of power transition in the US, amounts to a strong endorsement of its political trajectory, if not an encouragement to behave more assertively.
Editorial on the signing from Karaskova, et. al
The full article is available here from EUObserver.
Image source: Ursula von der Leyen Twitter account
