Shedding Light on China-EU Investment Negotiations
Posted on: 08 December 2014
The first public symposium to examine the next stage in the negotiations for a bilateral investment treaty between China and the EU was held in Trinity College Dublin recently. The symposium aimed to shed light on the regulatory challenges and opportunities for building future bilateral investment between the two economic blocks and was jointly organised by the School of Law and School of Business in Trinity College and the China-Europe School of Law, at the China University of Political Science and Law (CUPL) in Beijing. David O’Sullivan, EU Ambassador to the US, who has extensive experience in negotiation of key EU bilateral Trade and Investment Treaties to the US, gave the keynote speech on the challenges and competences associated with the investment treaty negotiations. The meeting also provided a unique opportunity to hear from the lead negotiators of both EU and Chinese delegations.
The symposium ‘Towards a China-EU Investment Agreement: Challenges, Themes and Competences’ brought together leading experts from academia, industry and policy-making to discuss the legal frameworks needed to facilitate bilateral access to foreign direct investment between the two economic blocks and also provided a forum to discuss practitioner perspectives. In addition to the representatives of both the EU Commission and PR China, high profile speakers included counsellor Wu Lijun, Charge D'Affaires, Embassy of PR China to Ireland, Alan Dukes, Chairman, Asia Matters, Shane Nolan, IDA Ireland and Professor Linda Hogan, Vice Provost/Chief Academic Officer, Trinity College.
The meeting began with a keynote speech by David O’Sullivan, in which the Ambassador underlined the importance of foreign direct investment for Ireland and as a mainstay of EU Global Engagement:
The global consensus is that FDI is a good thing. It allows money to go beyond national borders to business with the best prospects; it protects companies from risk by diversifying their revenues; it promotes the transfer of technology, innovative ideas, best practices and managerial skills, making companies more competitive. And, depending on tax/incentives policy mix in place in the beneficiary country, it can add much needed revenue to the national coffers.
While acknowledging that the EU financial and economic crisis had led some to question globalisation, the Ambassador emphasised that a China-EU Investment Treaty must be considered in the context of the benefits: "Europe benefits from an open global economy and further liberalisation is the cornerstone of our commercial policy."
According to the Ambassador, the EU-China agreement covering both investment protection and liberalisation would:
- Simplify matters and create certainty for investors on both sides by replacing 26 bilateral Investment Treaties between China and individual EU Member States
- Protect Chinese investors under a single set of standards throughout the EU
- Provide all EU investors an equal level of protection for their investments in China
Concluding his speech, the Ambassador argued that an EU-China agreement makes sense for global reasons, as well as on its own merits. “As major global traders, an EU-China agreement would raise the bar, setting the example for liberalisation of investments at a global level and making another step towards a multilateral investment regime.”
The presentations by the representatives from both parties also provided insightful accounts on the negotiations process. Wei Xie, Second Secretary of PRC Mission to the EU spoke about the Chinese perspective on the negotiations. European Commission investment negotiator, Alexandra Koutoglidou discussed the EU’s approach to investment policy and treaty making as reflected in the agreements with Canada and Singapore.
Commenting on the significance of the symposium, one of the organisers, Louis Brennan Professor in Business at the School of Business, said: “The successful negotiation of the EU-China Investment Treaty represents a major opportunity to deliver an outcome that delivers growth and employment for both parties, an outcome that can be especially beneficial for Europe given the current challenges facing its economy.”
The one-day meeting was funded by the EU Commission and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sponsored China Europe Law School (CESL), of which Trinity is a founding consortium member. The CESL is the sole international collaborative venture in China which has been authorised by the Chinese Ministry of Education to award degrees within the Chinese educational system. Lecturers in the School of Law (led by symposium organiser Professor Rosemary Byrne) as well as Political Science and Business at Trinity College are part of the ‘flying faculty’ at the CESL campus in Beijing and have contributed to the preparation of the next generation of lawyers through postgraduate training to meet the challenges brought on by economic and legal globalisation.
Speaking about Trinity’s longstanding links with the symposium sponsors, the CESL, as well as the key themes of the symposium, organiser, Dr Diarmuid Phelan, Fellow, School of Law at Trinity College and Director of CESL, commented: “Whilst this Treaty is being negotiated by the EU, it sets the legal framework for Irish investment into China, and Chinese investment into Ireland. The Law School has contributed to the EU China Law School for seven years, and welcomes the grant enabling the dissemination and analysis of this significant treaty to take place in Dublin.”