Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Sunday in Paris that a China-EU investment deal could be reached by the end of the year.

His remark came against a backdrop of persistent diplomatic tension between Beijing and the United States.

Wang said Europe and China had a responsibility to work for "a more stable world" that would benefit from an agreement that has been in the works for several years.

"We have the possibility to conclude one by the end of the year. We each need to take a step towards the other," the minister told a conference organised by the French Institute for International Relations (IFRI).

Wang is visiting European capitals to reinforce ties as relations with the US remain tense.

Chinese and European experts have been working for seven years on a deal to protect foreign investments, reinforce respect for intellectual copyrights, end obligations to transfer technology and subsidies for Chinese public enterprises.

The US is also trying to establish more balanced economic ties with China, but those efforts are struggling to make headway.

In June, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said that work on an agreement with the European Union had become "difficult" and warned: "We need more ambition on China's part to wrap up an agreement by the end of the year."

China wants speedy free trade deal with Norway
Oslo (AFP) Aug 27, 2020 - China's foreign minister on Thursday sought a speedy conclusion to a free trade deal with Norway but warned Olso against "politicising" the Nobel by awarding another Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident.

Talks on a free-trade pact began in 2008, but relations between Oslo and Beijing were frozen from 2010 to 2016 after the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident, Liu Xiabao.

Negotiations resumed in 2017.

"Given the impact of COVID-19, early completion of the China-Norway FTA negotiations is of great significance to the bilateral economic bilateral relations and trade as well as to the efforts to keep the global supply chain open and connected," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told reporters during a visit to Oslo as part of a European tour.

"The two sides need to speed up the negotiation and bring it to early conclusion," he said.

But the minister warned against "interference" when asked about a proposal mooted by a Norwegian lawmaker turned minister to nominate the people of Hong Kong for a Nobel.

Beginning in early June 2019, Hong Kong was hit by seven straight months of huge and often violent pro-democracy protests in which more than 9,000 people were arrested.

"In the past, and today, in the future, China will firmly reject any attempt by anyone to use the Nobel Peace Prize to interfere in China's internal affairs. This position of the Chinese side is rock-firm and we do not want to see anyone politicising the Nobel Peace Prize," Wang said.

This year's Nobel peace prize will be announced in Oslo on October 9.

Wang also took a swipe at Washington with which Beijing has been engaged in a war of words over who is to blame for the novel coronavirus since US President Donald Trump described it as a "Chinese" illness in March.

"While China was the first country to report to the WHO and relevant countries about the emergence of the virus, it doesn't mean that the virus originated in China," he said.

"And actually, for the past months, we have seen reports and emerging information showing that the virus emerged in different parts of the world and many of them emerged earlier than China."

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Australia eyes powers to reverse local deals with China, others
Sydney (AFP) Aug 26, 2020
Australia's federal government will unveil new powers Thursday to scrap deals between state authorities and foreign countries that threaten the national interest, a move which could target several controversial agreements with China. Prime Minister Scott Morrison wants to stop state and local administrations from entering or remaining in accords that are deemed counter to national foreign policy objectives. "It is vital that when it comes to Australia's dealings with the rest of the world we spe ... read more