China-EU investment pact is signed but not yet a done deal, analysts warn

There are still big uncertainties for Chinese investors, ‘from security reviews to the departure of Angela Merkel’

Promised market access for European firms is not guaranteed, Berlin think tank chief says

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The expected departure of German Chancellor Angela Merkel this year will add to uncertainty about the investment agreement, according to a Beijing academic. Photo: Getty Images

Published: 9:00pm, 4 Jan 2021Updated: 9:46pm, 5 Jan 2021

A deal may have been struck but there are still big uncertainties ahead for China’s newly minted investment agreement with the European Union, from security reviews to power shifts in the EU, a prominent Chinese academic cautioned on Monday.

Liu Luxin, an international relations expert at Renmin University in Beijing, said that amid the celebrations there was reason for concern about the comprehensive agreement on investment signed by Beijing and the bloc last week.

“Rather than being an endpoint, the China-EU Comprehensive Investment Agreement is a new beginning for China’s economic diplomacy,” she wrote in China Economic Diplomacy Watch, an online magazine on WeChat, a social media platform.

“While cheering the completion of the investment agreement negotiations, we also have reasons to be sober and calm about the future development of China-EU economic and trade relations.”

Beijing has touted the deal as a strategic breakthrough in its bitter geopolitical competition with Washington, a rivalry that has ramped up on various fronts, from trade and technology to the military and ideology.

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