The EU and China in a New World Order: Challenges Ahead

Abstract

This EUCROSS working paper analyzes European Union-China trade relations in the context of the current negotiations for a new comprehensive framework agreement between the European Union (EU) and the People’s Republic of China. China is a strong economic power with increasingly sophisticated production in its coastal regions and is attempting to establish itself as a gravity center by concluding many bilateral free-trade agreements in the region. Although China has a strong hold in the Far East, there may be specific policy areas in which China’s influence ends up being global. The paper is divided into six parts. After the introduction, Part II explains the steps taken for negotiating a new comprehensive framework agreement between China and the European Union. Part III is devoted to EU-China trade relations, and Part IV to the bilateral trade relations from a Chinese perspective. Part V examines the various ways to improve the currently difficult EU-China trade relation, followed by the conclusions in Part VI. The paper concludes that dealing with China was one of the main arguments in favour of ratifying the Treaty of Lisbon because it provides for a permanent president of the European Council and a single foreign affairs post for the entire EU, which facilitates the EU’s coherence in its external affairs. Moreover, the paper concludes that the European Commission should negotiate the prospective Partnership and Cooperation Agreement between the EU and China more constructively, without patronizing, and instead accept China as an equal player in the current multipolar framework of global economic governance.