EU warns China: No business investment deal if sanctions remain | Al Jazeera

The European Parliament warned China on Thursday that it won’t ratify a long-awaited business investment deal as long as sanctions against European Union legislators remain in place.

EU lawmakers adopted a resolution in which they condemned “the baseless and arbitrary sanctions” imposed by Beijing on European individuals and institutions in March.

The European Parliament’s criticism was echoed by European Commission Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis, who said after a meeting of EU trade ministers that China’s sanctions haven’t created a favourable environment for a deal to be concluded.

“We cannot see this process of ratification outside of the broader context of EU-China relations,” he said.

The European Parliament said Beijing’s sanctions amount “to an attack on fundamental freedoms and urge the Chinese authorities to lift these wholly unjustified restrictive measures”.

The text was approved in a 599-30 vote with 58 abstentions.