On 18 October 2013 the European Commission initiate negotiations for a comprehensive EU-China investment agreement. The aim of the Agreement is to remove market access barriers to investment and provide a high level of protection to investors and investments in EU and China markets. It will replace the 26 existing Bilateral Investment Treaties between 27 individual EU Member States and China by one single comprehensive investment Agreement.
Current Status On 30 December 2020, the EU and China concluded negotiations on the Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI), which aims to provide EU investors with a greater level of access to the Chinese market.
In the agreement, China pledged to ensure fairer treatment for EU companies, allowing them to compete on fairer terms.
The commitment signed by China concerns the role and weight of state-owned enterprises, the transparency of subsidies and the rules against the forced transfer of technology.
China has also approved provisions on sustainable development, including commitments on climate and forced labor.
Both sides agreed to continue negotiations on investment protection and investment dispute resolution, to be completed within two years of signing the agreement, i.e. by 2022.
Separate negotiations with China for an upgrade of the 1985 Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement were launched in 2007 but have been stalled since 2011 due to divergences between the mandates and expectations of the parties.
Here the last report of the 12th Round of negotiations (Brussels, 26-30 September 2016):
Next Steps The next round of negotiations is likely to take place in July 2017 – with preparatory inter-sessional work in between.
Statistics on EU-China investments
In 2016, the Chinese investments in Europe exceeded four times the European ones in China.
35.1 billion Euro (up 77% over the previous year), the Chinese acquisitions in Europe and 8,1 billion Euro the European investments in China.
During last sixteen years, the first european destinations of the Chinese investments were in UK(23.6 billion Euro) and Germany (18,8 billion Euro). Third, Italy, with 12,8 billion Euro and fourth France, with 12,8 billion Euro.. 2016 also saw a record of Chinese investments in the US at $ 46.5 billion, tripling the 2015 values when the mergers and acquisitions of Beijing In the US had halted at a remarkable share of $ 15 billion.
In total, Chinese investments in the world were $ 201 billion in 2016, mostly for acquisitions in technology and advanced manifacturing. 2016 Chinese GDP: 12.000 billion US$.