Architecture Of EU-China Bilateral Relations

Architecture Of EU-China Bilateral Relations Presented By: Dr. Irmgard Adam Date: 5 March 2019 EU - China relations - EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation (2013) is the highest-level joint document in EU-China relations. - In July 2016, the EU adopted a new Strategy on China - In December 2018, China issued a Policy Paper on the European Union EU - China Legal Affairs Dialogue - - Joint Statement EU-China Summit 2015: • EU and China agreed to set up an EU-China Legal Affairs Dialogue • Venue for EU and China to better understand their respective legal systems and • To deepen their partnership in a wide range of areas EU is late: Germany established its Dialogue in 1999 • Dialogue totally separate from the Human Rights dialogue and covering a much wider range of issues - The new dialogue should not have any direct impact on the substance of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue - Naming the dialogue: how to avoid difficulties faced in other formats and establish an efficient mechanism? - The result: open, more technical than results oriented dialogue - LAD Beijing June 2016 • - Topics of discussion: e-commerce and consumer protection LAD Brussel October 2017, study tour Paris • Topics of discussion: better regulation, improvement of the quality law- making, importance of transparency, involvement of stakeholders, evidence- based policy making and uniform implementation of laws; making and development of Chinese Civil Code. - LAD Beijing March 2019 • in preparation: high level segment and workshops on topics related to the overall theme of the dialogue - LAD is instrumental in bridging the gap between EU and China. There are many areas for dialogue on bilateral, multilateral and domestic level. New developments create new legal problems to solve • Artificial intelligence development has an impact on human rights (Al-powered techniques on such human rights as privacy and freedom of expression), democracy and the rule of law • Alternative dispute resolution mechanisms needed as Chinese economy is growing The Challenge - EU and China are different political entities with different approaches to law EU-China Human Rights Dialogue - The European Union and China hold an annual Human Rights Dialogue The 36th round of the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue was held in Beijing on 9-10 July 2018. • The EU recalled that China, twenty years after having signed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has still not ratified it. • The EU raised individual cases (including Gui Minhai) and asked for the release of a number of individuals. • Other issues raised include the death penalty, systemic problems in the criminal justice system, including cases of arbitrary detention, restrictions on freedom of expression and association. EU Human Rights - EU Annual Reports on Human Rights and Democratization: • Every year, the European Parliament debates human rights and democracy in the world overall and the European Union's policy on the matter - European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) • Thematic funding instrument for EU external action aiming to support projects in the area of human rights, fundamental freedoms and democracy in non- EU countries. • Designed to support civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defense of human rights. Council Conclusions on EU priorities in UN human rights fora in 2019 (18 February 2019) - The Council conclusions on EU priorities at UN human rights fora are adopted on a yearly basis. • "The European Union will continue to denounce human rights violations and abuses wherever they are committed... use all available tools and fora to fulfil its commitments to human rights and promote human rights globally, in the framework of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council and any other relevant fora, through public statements, diplomatic demarches, public diplomacy, human rights and political dialogues, the Universal Periodic Review, engagement with UN Special Procedures, and sanctions as appropriate. It will seek to build coalitions on both thematic issues and country situations." • • "The European Union will seek dialogue on human rights with all states... • … all human rights are to be realized worldwide... there is no hierarchy of human rights." • ... strong and unequivocal opposition to the death penalty in all times and all circumstances. • The EU remains seriously concerned about the reported cases of mistreatment and torture under detention in China, and calls on the authorities to thoroughly investigate them." China and the International Human Rights System - China • Has officially accepted the universality of human rights (China's support for the resolution establishing the Human Rights Council in 2006) • China signed a wide range of human rights treaties • 2004 constitution: inclusion of references to human rights China's Notion Of Human Rights - China • Views human rights in strongly aspirational rather than legal terms (priority of socio-economic rights and the right to development) • Rights are goals to be attained on the path to development rather than binding legal obligations, collective socio-economic rights are firmly prioritized over individual civil and political rights • Stability is a precondition for human rights (maintenance of public order as a paramount obligation of the state even at the expense of the most fundamental rights of dissidents) Women's Rights In China - China signed and ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in 1980 - National laws attribute equal rights to women: • Constitution • Marriage law, inheritance law, land law etc. - The problem: political priorities, legal inconsistencies, structural deficits - Chinese women's rights to inheritance and property (conflict with tradition) • Women's equal rights to land  Problems with registration of land allotted to the family  Emerging trend: efforts to build up nation-wide cadaster • Women's equal rights to inheritance  The right of the parties to determine shares of inheritance  Emerging trend: reform of inheritance law? - Which solutions were found when harmonizing EU inheritance law? Children's rights in China - China's left-behind children (conflict with modernization strategy) • Under the one-child policy parents often did not register children born outside the plan • Emerging trends in national-level implementation since two child policy: registration. Legal consequence: right to education China's Non-interference Principle - China's international engagement has long been shaped by its foreign policy of noninterference in the internal affairs of other countries - China's overseas investment activities are not seldom undermining the human rights agenda - China's strict non-interference policy may be compromised by China's increasingly complex global economic and strategic interests as these interests need to be protected via a more activist foreign policy