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Chancellor Angela Merkel at the video-broadcast press conference with Commissioner von der Leyen and Council President Michel
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MICHELE TANTUSSI / AFP
The EU wants to conclude an investment agreement with China by the end of the year - but not only the economic talks stall.
Again and again the negotiations are overshadowed by human rights violations in China.
After the most recent round of talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, EU Council President Charles Michel said the European Union had asked China to allow an independent observer mission to monitor the situation of the Uyghurs.
"We have expressed our concern about China's treatment of minorities (...)," Michel said after the conversation, which EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen and Chancellor Angela Merkel also took part in during the German EU Council Presidency .
The EU has asked "for access for independent observers" to the mostly Uighur region of Xinjiang in northwest China.
Chancellor Merkel said Xi had offered trips to Xinjiang Province.
"But you have to see if it becomes something."
According to human rights organizations, more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims are held in detention camps in Xinjiang.
According to this, the people there are forced to give up their religion, culture and language and sometimes also mistreated.
The government in Beijing rejects the allegations and speaks of "educational centers" that serve to fight Islamist radicalization.
The trade and economic relations of the EU with the People's Republic were in the foreground of the discussions with Xi.
The human rights situation in Xinjiang and Tibet and European concerns about the situation in Hong Kong also came up, said Council President Michel.
"We're not looking the other way, these issues need to be addressed".
Since the adoption of the so-called Security Law for the Chinese Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, the central government has been intervening there increasingly hard.
Market access and sustainable development: EU calls for concessions
With regard to the planned investment agreement, the EU is demanding far-reaching concessions from China.
If an agreement is to be reached by the end of the year, as planned, China still has to do a lot on the issues of market access and sustainable development, said EU Commission President von der Leyen.
For European companies in the digital sector in particular, as well as in the field of electromobility and the health sector, barriers to market access need to be dismantled.
Von der Leyen emphasized that it is not possible to meet halfway on the subject of market access.
"China has to convince us that it is worth having this investment deal."
The head of the commission also pointed out that an agreement had already been reached on planned regulations for state-owned companies, technology transfers and subsidy transparency.
Chancellor Merkel did not rule out an agreement.
"I think it can work," she said.
Both sides clearly articulated on Monday that they wanted to try to conclude the agreement by the end of the year.
The investment agreement has been negotiated for more than six years.
Above all, it is intended to improve European companies' access to the Chinese market.
For the EU, it is a prerequisite for starting talks on a free trade agreement.
Originally, the federal government had planned a summit with all 27 EU governments and China in Leipzig for Monday.
Merkel said that this should be made up for as soon as the corona pandemic allows.
But this will no longer be the case this year.
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mes / AFP / dpa