In 2019, the EU’s and its members’ policies toward China could be understood in the context of the China-US trade relations. In this year, the United States raised the “trade war” stick against China. Actually, besides trade, in field of technology, education and others, the US had launched a contain-like policy toward China in order to defend its international hegemony. More or less, the EU’s and some members’ China policies were obviously affected by the United States or so-called “trans-Atlantic relations”, which had similar features to that of the US, for example, highlighting economic competition with China, and doubting the potential dangers of Huawei to national security. Ironically, the year of 2019 also marked the division between Europe and the United States, due to their different attitudes to NATO’s status and functions, the international agreement on Iran nuclear issue, and international trade regulations, among which there were a lot of controversies between the two sides. In this year, the US set tariff barriers against Airbus, an iconic industrial giant of Europe. Together with other trade quarrels, the economic conflict between them had undermined their political mutual trust. Therefore, the EU and its members had changes and dynamic to make their China policies more independent. According to the “EU-China-A Strategic Outlook” issued by the EU in 2019, its China policy was more complicated and sophisticated than before.
At member’s level, 28 or 27 countries can actually be sorted into several groups according to their positions toward China: friendly, indifferent and hostile. Of course this sort was not exact and might be stationary considering the change of time, there were several groups to be identified in 2019: Baltic countries or the Nordic countries, the Southern European countries, the Western European countries, the “Visegrad Group” and the Western Balkan countries, each of which seemed to have specific policy toward China. It showed that within the framework of the EU’s united common China policy, at regional level, there were several sorts of policies toward China. As for this, it’s important for China to refine its EU policy and implement it at three levels- European, regional and member state’s, meanwhile, the EU policy of China in these three levels cannot be substituted each other.
In the first quarter of year 2020, China-EU relations are being impacted by the pneumonia epidemic caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). When these words are written, the epidemic is still spreading in Europe, and perhaps becomes much severer. China is giving hands to Europe for fight against the epidemic, yet no one could predict the future of Sino-European relations that certainly would be re-shaped by this epidemic and the China-European cooperative efforts to fight against virus. Whatsoever, it’s expected that the changes in China-EU relations caused by this epidemic could become more beneficial to both sides and to the world as well.
This report was co-authored by some young and middle-aged scholars who are dedicated to the study of European issues. It recalled and depicted the basic situation of the EU (and its members) and its policy toward China in 2019, and also analyzed the prospects and challenges of its relations with China in future. Some of them are members of the research project- the European Union ’s Policy toward China and the Development of Sino-European Relations in the European Debt Crisis- chaired by Professor Chen Zhimin.
It’s hoped this report will make you interested in or think more about Sino-European relations. It will be our honor if it could stimulate you to explore more European issues academically. This is our third annual report on China policy of the EU and its members. Your comments and suggestions on the report are always appreciated. Surely, praise or critiques to us is always the dynamic for us to go forward.
