For many years, China-E.U. relations have been driven singularly by mercantilism, but diplomatic engagement between Beijing and Brussels increasingly features a geopolitical component. In this podcast with Paul Haenle, Carnegie Europe Director Jan Techau discusses the challenges facing the European Union’s integration project as well as the changing nature of China-E.U. economic and political ties.
Techau says that E.U. foreign policy is a big unkept promise of Europe’s integration project, because disparate interests and policies among E.U. member states have made it difficult for Europe to project a singular, cohesive foreign-policy agenda. According to Techau, this dynamic is relevant to Europe’s debate about whether to grant market economy status to China, an issue European countries disagree on. China’s new Belt and Road initiative demonstrates that while economics and the search for new markets still bring Brussels and Beijing together, China’s growing influence in Europe, compared to that of the United States, poses a challenge for Brussels and could pull China and the E.U. apart.
China in the World Podcast
05.13.16