China’s Embrace of Sanctions Costs It an Investment Deal With EU
- European lawmakes vote to freeze ratification of hard-won pact
- Beijing defends sanctions that undermined support for deal
Photographer: Thierry Charlier/AFP/Getty Images
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China is standing firm on retaliatory sanctions that led Europe to freeze a landmark investment deal, in the latest sign that Beijing is willing to sacrifice economic opportunities to protect its “core” interests.
European lawmakers overwhelmingly approved a resolution Thursday to withhold ratification of the Comprehensive Agreement on Investment with China, so long as its “baseless and arbitrary” penalties were in place. China afterward reaffirmed its decision to sanctions members of the same body it was counting on to enact the deal reached in December following seven years of negotiations.