(FILES) This file photo taken on June 4, 2019 shows the Jieleixi No.13 village mosque in Yangisar, south of Kashgar, in China’s western Xinjiang region. – Chinese authorities have demolished thousands of mosques in Xinjiang, an Australian think tank said on September 25, 2020, in the latest report of widespread human rights abuses in the restive region. (Photo by GREG BAKER / AFP)
France has become the first country to oppose the proposed Comprehensive Agreement on Investment deal to be signed between the European Union and China. In an interview to Le Monde, Franck Riester, Minister delegate for foreign trade said his country would oppose the deal with China over the use of forced Uyghur labour by China. While acknowledging that the proposed investment pact would be significant in re-balancing investment with China, he said France continued to have concerns that China had not fulfilled “sufficient commitments” to international treaties. The CAI received an “in principle nod” in December 2020 following negotiations that spanned seven years and is on the verge of being finalized in Brussels by the end of year.