Is the Europea Unionns Backyard Drifting Towards China?

Abstract

This paper examines how China is influencing international economic cooperation and shaping international institutions by imprinting its national strategies onto international trade and investment arrangements it has negotiated with several countries in Central and Eastern Europe and the Western Balkans. The focus is on China’s “16 1” forum for cooperation in the areas of investment, transport, science, education and cooperation with eleven EU members (Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia) and five Balkan states (Albania, Bosnia and Hercegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia). The paper argues that by creating a less structured and less formalized forum for economic cooperation, China is increasingly influencing the EU integration process by contesting its core principles and concepts—functioning of integrated and liberalized single market, transparent processes of law-making, accountability of national and EU institutions, and public participation in the decision-making process at all levels of governance. The paper concludes that China’s initiative has already influenced EU pre-accession strategy by impacting the choice of mechanisms used by the EU institutions to secure candidates’ integration into the EU and by adjusting its level of engagement with the region in response to competitive arrangements offered by China.