Sir, – How disappointing that the EU agreed a landmark accord with China on the same day that the latter jailed another group of young pro-democracy Hong Kong activists (“New investment treaty agreed by EU and China”, Business, December 31st).
The biggest European beneficiaries of the treaty will be Daimler, BMW, Peugeot, Allianz and Siemens, all of which have a large presence in China.
This perhaps explains why the deal was approved after an online meeting involving president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Chinese president Xi Jinping, German chancellor Angela Merkel, and French president Emmanuel Macron.
Once again the EU’s “values” and much trumpeted commitment to human rights has to take a back seat to German and French commercial interests. – Yours, etc,
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KARL MARTIN,
Bayside,
Dublin 13.