"China to ratify forced labour conventions in ‘major signal’ to EU", 11 April 2022

China is set to ratify two International Labour Organization conventions on forced labour next week during a meeting of its top legislature, a move seen as an important step to improve ties with Europe.

State news agency Xinhua said lawmakers would ratify the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 and the Abolition of Forced Labour Convention, 1957 during a meeting of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress.

The decision was made public at a meeting on Monday.

The pair of conventions were among the main stumbling blocks during marathon negotiations for the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), which took almost eight years before an agreement in principle was reached at the end of 2020.

China had agreed to pursue ratification of the two ILO conventions as a compromise over forced labour, an issue that had stalled the investment deal talks with the EU, according to the agreement released in December 2020.

But the deal has been in limbo since Brussels and Beijing exchanged sanctions last year over accusations of human rights abuses in Xinjiang. [...]