The CTU is concerned that the”upgrade” of the New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement has notremoved the threat of investor suits against the New Zealand government(Investor-State Dispute Settlement, ISDS). Alongside the reduced oversight of Chineseinvestment into New Zealand with the raised threshold of business investment to$100 million for government investments and $200 million for non-governmentinvestments, the risk of poor quality investment is raised while the ability ofChina-based investors to sue the New Zealand government in internationalinvestment tribunals remains.
CTU Economist Dr Bill Rosenberg comments,”We urge the Government to release the text of the changes as a matter ofpriority so that the public can see the nature of new commitments such as ingovernment procurement, e-commerce, audio-visual services, real estate servicesand “other education services”. With the TPPA, the text was releasedbefore legal checking. With appropriate warnings, and the same could apply.”
“Similarly we urge the release of the textof the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) deal which MFAT tellus is complete even though schedules of commitments and India’s agreement arestill being negotiated,” Rosenberg said.
