EU-China Relations: Engagement, Cooperation, Partnership - Essay Sample

Introduction

The relationships between China and the European Union (EU), also known as Sino-European relations started in 1975. The main aim of the association was to improve peace, promote development and build people-to-people exchanges. China then became the EU's second major trading partner. The EU gave China a policy that emphasizes on reciprocity and fairness (Griese, 547). The policy can be summed up in three words: engagement, cooperation, and partnership. The EU and China have held annual summits with the primary aim of maintaining their political and economic relationship.

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Engagement refers to China being involved in the coming up of solutions to the challenges being faced by regions globally. Cooperation consists of coming together with enough expertise and discussing issues ranging from politics to the environment and trade, then coming up with solutions (Griese, 548). The partnership involves combining EU and China's strength to come up with adequate solutions to global challenges for instance the Lisbon Treaty (Bindi & Angelescu, 287).

In 2007, a new agreement was signed, and the Trade and Economic Agreement (1985) was said to be outdated. With the new era agreement, both the EU and China issued some requests. China wanted the EU to consider three issues: EU to stop supplying weapons to Taiwan, totally ban the sale of arms to China and not to have contact with the exiled Tibet government (Andreosso-O'Callaghan, 123). The Paris Agreement was implemented in 2015, and it emphasized fighting against climate change and showing global leadership.

The EU and China relationship are currently intensifying, and trade, investment, economic and political interests should be put down in the new Partnership and Cooperation policy (Men, 788-795). Their main area of interest is how they can share knowledge, ideas, and experiences. The relationship has helped a lot of people in China and Europe by creating opportunities for them. The 20th Summit between the EU and China was held in 2018, and the leaders agreed to support each other and respect the rules-based, multilateral trading system.

According to Bindi & Angelescu (281), the relationship between the EU and China has been of a significant impact to the global world. They have improved the market economy status and could do better in the coming years. The EU companies have not managed to get into the Chinese market because of the lack of consensual free trade agreement. Thus, the EU should consider conferring of the market economy (ME) for it to have a much better economic relationship with China.

There have been both negative and positive impacts on the ME among the two partners. China has always claimed that the Chinese businesses are handled unfairly and unjustly and this has been a hindrance to the economy of the Chinese government (Men, 788-790). As the EU penetrates on the Chinese market, it should also give space for China to engage in business with its people without any discrimination. This would strengthen their relationship and enhance their market economies.

The EU has been China's leading trading partner when it comes to technology (Van der Ploeg et al. 133-135). Most countries in the world have been of much dependence to these two partners in technology. Apart from the misunderstandings, the partners have been able to come up with innovations and have embraced economic creativity. This has boosted the economy, not only among the two partners but globally.

As these two partners continue to prosper in economic and political development, they should relate well, strengthen their ties and concentrate more on economic events and global solutions to climate challenges. Some developing countries develop on them for economic growth.

The Sino-European, the 2020 strategic agenda for cooperation, will strengthen relation. This agenda incorporates several issues that will enable the two parties to trade more coherently and enhance mutual benefits (Gabriel and Susanne pp. 26-34). Some of the variables to be increased by the 2020 Eu-China strategic plan include peace and security, prosperity in terms of trade and investment, industry and information, agriculture, transport, and infrastructure standards. Both parties have agreed to attach importance to trade dialogues as a forum to plan and execute their economic progress (Maher, pp. 959-976). They have come up with a comprehensively viable investment plan that entails the interests of each side such as investment protection and market access. This will strengthen their trade relations and drive China towards an optimum level of economic growth.

Both the Eu and China have put development plans in place, and they both believe that the 2020 strategic plan will see them cope with the changing world. They will fully implement the agenda of cooperation through annual summits to provide guidance to their relationship (Christiansen et al. pp. 229-247). The issue of security is due to the world's trend in terms of multipolarity and globalization, and initiatives have been advanced to enable this. The plan is also meant to enhance sustainable development in China. China is committed towards full cooperation with the Eu in return for support in terms of advancement in technology, innovation, energy, space, and aerospace information (Kwok et al. pp. 2). Industry and urbanization are also sub-pillars of this agreement. For any country's development to be sustainable, environmental protection and social progress have to be achieved. China and the EU have set objectives to achieve these. For instance, the EU and China have agreed to enhance and implement effective international climate change measures constrained by UNFCC and the Kyoto Protocol (Maher pp. 959-976). All these plans and agenda, if executed well, they will boost the economic growth of both parties.

Works Cited

Andreosso-O'Callaghan, Bernadette. "Technology transfer: A mode of collaboration between the European Union and China." Europe-Asia Studies 51.1 (1999): 123-142.

Bindi Federiga & Angelescu Irina. The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe's Role in the World (Second Edition). Brookings Institution Press, 2012

Christiansen, Thomas, Emil J. Kirchner, and Han Dorussen. "Against the odds:(Considerable) convergence and (limited) cooperation in EU-China security relations." (2016): 229-247.

Gabriel, Johannes, and Susanne Schmelcher. "Three scenarios for EU-China relations 2025." Futures 97 (2018): 26-34.

Griese, Olaf. "EU-China relations-an assessment by the communications of the European union." Asia Europe Journal 4.4 (2006): 545-553.

Kwok, Kwok-chuen, Lawrence J. Lau, and Tim Summers. "Eu-China Innovation Relations from Zero-Sum to Global Networks." (2018).

Maher, Richard. "The elusive EU-China strategic partnership." International Affairs 92.4 (2016): 959-976.

Men, Jing. "Chinese perceptions of the European Union: A review of leading Chinese journals." European Law Journal12.6 (2006): 788-806.

Van der Ploeg, Jan Douwe, Ye Jingzhong, and Sergio Schneider. "Rural development through the construction of new, nested, markets: comparative perspectives from China, Brazil and the European Union." Journal of Peasant Studies39.1 (2012): 133-173