EU-US trade and tech negotiators meet in Paris to tighten screws on autocrats, including China and Russia
- Allusions to China peppered throughout a joint statement seen by the Post, including the group’s efforts to help ‘eradicate forced labour’
- Technology is being used to ‘perpetrate human rights violations and abuses, engage in forms of repression and undermine the security of other nations’, they say
In sun-drenched Paris on Sunday, EU and US officials fine-tuned a blueprint to counter what they see as autocrats’ efforts to harness trade and technology for nefarious means.
A joint statement seen by the South China Morning Post, to be released after the second meeting of the Trade and Technology Council (TTC) on Monday, contains only a single nod to Beijing, in reference to its dominance of the rare earth minerals market, and many mentions of Russia.
But there are obvious allusions to China peppered throughout.
Among the agreements thrashed out in Paris was the establishment of a tripartite dialogue on trade and labour between the EU, US and civil society that will work to “eradicate forced labour”.
EU trade chief Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters after a day of meetings with US counterparts that the allies would “crowdsource discussions on what are the best approaches” to ban the practice, which has become a major concern amid allegations of widespread forced labour in the Chinese province of Xinjiang.