• Education
    • Higher Education
    • Scholarships & Grants
    • Online Learning
    • School Reforms
    • Research & Innovation
  • Lifestyle
    • Travel
    • Food & Drink
    • Fashion & Beauty
    • Home & Living
    • Relationships & Family
  • Technology & Startups
    • Software & Apps
    • Startup Success Stories
    • Startups & Innovations
    • Tech Regulations
    • Venture Capital
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cybersecurity
    • Emerging Technologies
    • Gadgets & Devices
    • Industry Analysis
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
Today Headline
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • World News
    • Us & Canada
    • Europe
    • Asia
    • Africa
    • Middle East
  • Politics
    • Elections
    • Political Parties
    • Government Policies
    • International Relations
    • Legislative News
  • Business & Finance
    • Market Trends
    • Stock Market
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Corporate News
    • Economic Policies
  • Science & Environment
    • Space Exploration
    • Climate Change
    • Wildlife & Conservation
    • Environmental Policies
    • Medical Research
  • Health
    • Public Health
    • Mental Health
    • Medical Breakthroughs
    • Fitness & Nutrition
    • Pandemic Updates
  • Sports
    • Football
    • Basketball
    • Tennis
    • Olympics
    • Motorsport
  • Entertainment
    • Movies
    • Music
    • TV & Streaming
    • Celebrity News
    • Awards & Festivals
  • Crime & Justice
    • Court Cases
    • Cybercrime
    • Policing
    • Criminal Investigations
    • Legal Reforms
No Result
View All Result
Today Headline
No Result
View All Result
Home World News Europe

Should Europe draw closer to China?

March 15, 2025
in Europe
Reading Time: 9 mins read
A A
0
Chinese President Xi Jinping, sitting in front of a row of the EU and Chinese flags
5
SHARES
11
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


This article is an onsite version of our Europe Express newsletter. Sign up here to get the newsletter sent straight to your inbox every weekday and Saturday morning. Explore all of our newsletters here

Welcome back. For Europeans, the fear that the transatlantic alliance’s days may be numbered raises an unavoidable question.

Should they try to build a better relationship with China, despite profound disagreements over geopolitics and trade, in order to compensate for US unreliability? Or are the risks involved in such an endeavour too high? I’m at [email protected]. 

What China thinks

The starting point is to consider what China itself says and thinks about Europe. At last month’s Munich security conference, foreign minister Wang Yi put it this way:

“China has always seen in Europe an important pole in the multipolar world. The two sides are partners, not rivals.”

The contrast with the disdainful, hostile language towards Europe of JD Vance, the US vice-president, could hardly have been more stark.

US vice-president JD Vance alarmed and angered Europeans with a truculent speech at last month’s Munich security conference © AFP via Getty Images

However, official Chinese publications carry frequent, sharp-tongued criticisms of Europe’s defence and security policies, especially in respect of Russia and the war in Ukraine. For example, the China Daily newspaper said this month in an editorial:

“It has been [Europe’s] reliance on Nato and that organisation’s expansionism and relentless roll towards Russia’s border that has been a principal factor in triggering the conflict.”

That is definitely not how most European governments see matters.

Keep in mind that China recently appointed Lu Shaye as its special representative for European affairs. In 2023, he shocked European governments by going well beyond Beijing’s official stance and questioning whether the non-Russian states that emerged out of the Soviet Union’s collapse in 1991 were truly sovereign.

Lu Shaye, China’s special representative for European affairs
Lu Shaye, China’s special representative for European affairs, made some unsettling, off-script remarks in 2023 when he questioned the sovereignty of non-Russian former Soviet republics  © Federico Pestellini/Panoramic/Reuters

Exploiting the US-European split

Among experts in western countries, there’s a range of views about China’s intentions towards Europe and how to respond — some suspicious, others more pragmatic.

In this commentary for the Berlin-based Mercator Institute for China Studies, Grzegorz Stec argues:

“China increasingly sees Europe as a politically divided and geopolitically challenged actor that can be leveraged for its market and used to gradually bring about a multipolar international order.  

“A gradual process would give China time to further strengthen its geopolitical position. Beijing is betting that pressure from Washington will send Europe into the arms of China to counterbalance transatlantic tensions.”

Picture of delegates seated at China’s National People’s Congress in Beijing
Chinese leaders spoke of rising geopolitical uncertainty at this month’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, the rubber-stamp legislature © Getty Images

Ali Wyne, a specialist at the International Crisis Group, tends to agree. He says China sees a chance to exploit the upheaval in the world order sparked by the Trump administration:

“I think on balance, China does discern a window of strategic opportunity, particularly when it comes to the rupture in the transatlantic alliance.

“And we already see that China is positioning itself vis-à-vis the European Union. China is encouraging the European Union to do more to assert its strategic autonomy.”

However, Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an assistant professor at National Dong Hwa University in Taiwan and a former adviser to the European parliament, contends that China’s outreach to the EU will run into obstacles. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reports:

“Ferenczy . . . cautions that years of trade spats between Brussels and Beijing, as well as strained ties from China’s economic support of Russia throughout the [Ukraine] war and the supply of dual-use goods for its war effort, will be difficult to shake.”

China’s Ukraine policies

Should Europe take the plunge and engage with China in pursuit of a peace deal in Ukraine, provided that such an initiative ensures that the Europeans and Ukrainians are at the negotiating table?

Yes, says William Matthews of the London-based Chatham House think-tank:

“While hardly ideal for Europe, China is now the superpower most committed to an international order underpinned by multilateralism. On this point, the two now have more in common than either do with Trump’s US or Putin’s Russia.”

Or do they? European governments clearly dislike what G7 leaders last year called Beijing’s “ongoing support for Russia’s defence industrial base”, enabling its war effort in Ukraine.

True, there are some obvious limits to China’s so-called “no-limits partnership” with Russia — outlined in this analysis by the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations.

It was interesting to see this week that Moscow is imposing curbs on imports of Chinese vehicles, which have soared since 2022 thanks to western sanctions on Russia.

Chinese cars on display at a Moscow dealership
Chinese cars on display at a Moscow dealership © MAXIM SHIPENKOV/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

Still, the fact remains that the Moscow-Beijing relationship has grown closer during the war in Ukraine. 

Yu Jie, a senior research fellow at Chatham House, wrote in the FT last month that recent trips by Chinese leaders to Europe haven’t done much to repair Beijing’s image:

“The more Beijing tries to explain its relationship with Moscow, it seems, the deeper the mistrust Europe feels towards it.”

Chinese peacekeepers on European soil?

Despite its refusal to blame Russia in any way for the war in Ukraine, and despite Lu Shaye’s off-script comments in 2023, China has held back from officially recognising the Kremlin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and four eastern Ukrainian regions in 2022.

Moreover, Beijing does not disguise its ambition to burnish its credentials as a global power by having a role in any peace settlement. This has even led to speculation that China might be willing to deploy a peacekeeping force in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire.

For the Ukrainians and their European supporters, a vital question is whether such a Chinese force would be genuinely neutral. Many have deep reservations.

Economic competition

Closely connected with these geopolitical frictions is Europe’s trade and investment relationship with China, which is extensive but riddled with disputes and, on the European side, anxiety.

This week Northvolt, a Swedish company that was once Europe’s big hope for reducing its reliance on Chinese imports of vehicle batteries, declared bankruptcy.

The chart below, provided by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, shows that China is the 27-nation bloc’s biggest import partner, but only its third-largest market for exports.

Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.

This trade imbalance owes much to a steady rise in Chinese competitiveness vis-à-vis the EU, as discussed in this useful blog on the European Central Bank’s website.

The blog attributes the trend to three factors:

1.    A downturn in China’s real estate market, which has lowered prices for certain goods sold abroad such as steel

2.    Chinese government subsidies for advanced manufacturing sectors

3.    Excess domestic capacity in China, which has reduced profit margins at home and made exports, including to Europe, a vital source of profits

Tariff wars

As a result, the EU and China are starting to impose tariffs on each other, albeit in a more limited, less disruptive way than is true of the US-inspired tariff wars with Europe, China and Canada.

An important question is whether the EU’s tariffs on Chinese-made battery-powered electric vehicles will do anything to help the nascent European EV sector.

In this deeply researched analysis for the Centre for European Reform think-tank, Anton Spisak contends that the benefits of the tariffs may not amount to much:

“European carmakers face structural pressures that go far beyond subsidised foreign imports.”

Some content could not load. Check your internet connection or browser settings.

No united European front

For the Europeans, it often turns out to be difficult to present a united front on economic relations with China, as powerful business sectors in some countries are heavily reliant on Chinese consumers and suppliers.

A case in point is Germany. All the tensions over trade and Chinese support for Russia did not stop German investment in China from soaring in the first half of last year — much of it driven by big German car manufacturers.

Andreas Fulda, a UK-based German scholar, published a book last year — Germany and China: how entanglement undermines freedom, prosperity and security — which argued that policymakers in Berlin are far too complacent about the risks that Chinese policies pose to Germany.

But other countries are no less reluctant to sacrifice close commercial and investment ties with China on the altar of European unity. One example is Spain.

Another is Italy, which in 2023 withdrew from China’s Belt and Road Initiative, but has subsequently sought to relaunch relations with Beijing — as explained here by Giulia Longhi on the China Observers in Central and Eastern Europe website.

Finally, we shouldn’t forget the UK’s recent efforts to rebuild economic and financial ties with China. Byford Tsang, writing for the European Council on Foreign Relations, describes this initiative as a “high-level political signal of openness to Chinese trade and investment” that “stands in sharp contrast to the EU’s more cautious stance”.

All in all, the rupture with the US — if that’s what it truly is — will present some hard choices for Europe with regard to China.

What do you think? Should Europe draw closer to China?

Vote here.

More on this topic

Russia-China economic relations: Moscow’s road to economic dependence — a research paper by Janis Kluge for the Deutsche Institut für Internationale Politik und Sicherheit

Tony’s picks of the week

  • The plans of Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s reformist president, to negotiate with the US over the country’s nuclear programme appear to be falling apart under pressure from hardliners in the Islamic republic, the FT’s Najmeh Bozorgmehr reports from Tehran

  • Democracy across the world is in decline, touching levels last seen in the final years of the cold war, according to the Democracy Report 2024 of the V-Dem Institute at the University of Gothenburg

Recommended newsletters for you

Trade Secrets — A must-read on the changing face of international trade and globalisation. Sign up here

Chris Giles on Central Banks — Vital news and views on what central banks are thinking, inflation, interest rates and money. Sign up here



Source link

Previous Post

NASA, SpaceX launch crew to space station to retrieve stuck astronauts

Next Post

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

Related Posts

British servicemen unfurl the Union Jack flag before the start of the Steadfast Dart 2025 exercise involving some 10,000 troops in three different countries from nine nations and represent the largest Nato operation planned this year

UK defence funding will hit 5% of GDP by 2035, Starmer to tell Nato summit

June 23, 2025
5
EU president Ursula von der Leyen and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the G7 summit in Alberta last week

Canada and EU inch closer together on defence

June 23, 2025
3
Next Post
A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

A stain on Britain: Sewage contaminates its waterways and seas

  • Trending
  • Comments
  • Latest
Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

Family calls for change after B.C. nurse dies by suicide after attacks on the job

April 2, 2025
Pioneering 3D printing project shares successes

Product reduces TPH levels to non-hazardous status

November 27, 2024

Hospital Mergers Fail to Deliver Better Care or Lower Costs, Study Finds todayheadline

December 31, 2024

Police ID man who died after Corso Italia fight

December 23, 2024
Harris tells supporters 'never give up' and urges peaceful transfer of power

Harris tells supporters ‘never give up’ and urges peaceful transfer of power

0
Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend's Mother

Des Moines Man Accused Of Shooting Ex-Girlfriend’s Mother

0

Trump ‘looks forward’ to White House meeting with Biden

0
Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

Catholic voters were critical to Donald Trump’s blowout victory: ‘Harris snubbed us’

0
Trump says Israel, Iran agree to ‘total and complete’ ceasefire

Trump says Israel, Iran agree to ‘total and complete’ ceasefire

June 23, 2025

Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Migrants to Countries to Which They Have No Connection

June 23, 2025

US crude oil futures fall over $3 as Trump announces Israel-Iran ceasefire

June 23, 2025
Trump says Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire

Trump says Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire

June 23, 2025

Recent News

Trump says Israel, Iran agree to ‘total and complete’ ceasefire

Trump says Israel, Iran agree to ‘total and complete’ ceasefire

June 23, 2025
0

Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Migrants to Countries to Which They Have No Connection

June 23, 2025
1

US crude oil futures fall over $3 as Trump announces Israel-Iran ceasefire

June 23, 2025
1
Trump says Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire

Trump says Israel and Iran have agreed to a ceasefire

June 23, 2025
3

TodayHeadline is a dynamic news website dedicated to delivering up-to-date and comprehensive news coverage from around the globe.

Follow Us

Browse by Category

  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Basketball
  • Business & Finance
  • Climate Change
  • Crime & Justice
  • Cybersecurity
  • Economic Policies
  • Elections
  • Entertainment
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Environmental Policies
  • Europe
  • Football
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Health
  • Medical Research
  • Mental Health
  • Middle East
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Politics
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Science & Environment
  • Software & Apps
  • Space Exploration
  • Sports
  • Stock Market
  • Technology & Startups
  • Tennis
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Us & Canada
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • World News

Recent News

Trump says Israel, Iran agree to ‘total and complete’ ceasefire

Trump says Israel, Iran agree to ‘total and complete’ ceasefire

June 23, 2025

Supreme Court Lets Trump Deport Migrants to Countries to Which They Have No Connection

June 23, 2025
  • Education
  • Lifestyle
  • Technology & Startups
  • About us
  • Contact
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy

© 2024 Todayheadline.co

Welcome Back!

OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Business & Finance
  • Corporate News
  • Economic Policies
  • Entrepreneurship
  • Market Trends
  • Crime & Justice
  • Court Cases
  • Criminal Investigations
  • Cybercrime
  • Legal Reforms
  • Policing
  • Education
  • Higher Education
  • Online Learning
  • Entertainment
  • Awards & Festivals
  • Celebrity News
  • Movies
  • Music
  • Health
  • Fitness & Nutrition
  • Medical Breakthroughs
  • Mental Health
  • Pandemic Updates
  • Lifestyle
  • Fashion & Beauty
  • Food & Drink
  • Home & Living
  • Politics
  • Elections
  • Government Policies
  • International Relations
  • Legislative News
  • Political Parties
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Middle East
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Cybersecurity
  • Emerging Technologies
  • Gadgets & Devices
  • Industry Analysis
  • Basketball
  • Football
  • Motorsport
  • Olympics
  • Climate Change
  • Environmental Policies
  • Medical Research
  • Science & Environment
  • Space Exploration
  • Wildlife & Conservation
  • Sports
  • Tennis
  • Technology & Startups
  • Software & Apps
  • Startup Success Stories
  • Startups & Innovations
  • Tech Regulations
  • Venture Capital
  • Uncategorized
  • World News
  • Us & Canada
  • Public Health
  • Relationships & Family
  • Travel
  • Research & Innovation
  • Scholarships & Grants
  • School Reforms
  • Stock Market
  • TV & Streaming
  • Advertise with Us
  • Privacy & Policy
  • About us
  • Contact

© 2024 Todayheadline.co