Navigating a New Functional Model for EU-China Relations: Rebuilding Trust and Enabling Cooperation
The main goal of this article is to present a new model for mutual relations between the European Union and China. This primarily concerns rebuilding trust and enabling further development of cooperation. The EU is China’s largest export market, and China currently ranks second among Europe’s key trading partners. Foreign trade with China dwarfs all other EU trade relations with developing Asian countries. Disrupting these relations would have significant consequences for sales, economic growth, and employment. It should be emphasized that economic growth in China is generally favored in the context of military expansion. Thanks to new investments, the Chinese state can transform its position through industrial expansion in the domestic market and maintain it through international trade. China is particularly sensitive to the benefits of intensive growth and will not be inclined to disrupt its existing economic development, which is crucial to its anticipated success. China is currently less concerned about criticism of its autocratic system from Western countries, but the Chinese people have become more nationalistic and potentially pose a greater threat to trade relations. Commercial interests within autocratic regimes create political dilemmas. EU-China trade is becoming increasingly one-sided, which is not easy to maintain. It is in the interests of both the EU and China that trade relations are sustainable and fair, benefiting current and future generations. The EU hopes to explore other sectors of bilateral cooperation and ways in which the EU and China can address global challenges. The European Union should realistically assess the extent to which it can magically change the Chinese government’s views and policy decisions. Leaders in China and the European Union should find a new normal—a functional relationship that benefits both sides.
Keywords: European Union, China, Trade Political Relations, Technical Progress, Foreign Trade Policy, New Functional Model Relationship, Inflection Point.
