BEIJING, 30 October 2003 — China’s relationship with Europe contrasts sharply with Sino-US ties, according to analysts who say Washington’s growing global influence could push the EU and the Communist giant closer together.
While the Chinese and Americans are on a constant roller coaster ride, dictated to a large extent by US domestic politics, exchanges with the Europeans have developed in a much less dramatic manner.
“Relations with the United States are up and down all the time. It’s clearly cyclical. Whenever relations are bad, human rights get added to the burden,” said Yu Bin, a Chinese foreign policy expert at Wittenberg University in Ohio. “The Europeans seem to be more consistent on human rights and also on Tibet,” he said.
Unsurprisingly, therefore, little drama is expected at Thursday’s one-day EU-China summit here chaired by Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, the European Union’s current president, and his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao.
This is despite potentially highly controversial issues piled on a busy agenda.
The EU expects to discuss North Korea and Myanmar, which are both pariah states but nevertheless Chinese allies, and also plans to raise China’s record on human rights.
“Human rights are never gone, but the two sides can talk about it,” said Yu. “With the US side, it goes from freezing to boiling hot.”
Another contrast between Chinese ties with the United States and those with Europe is in the different weight assigned to politics and economics.
The Sino-EU relationship is unburdened by grave strategic concerns, as neither extends its influence far enough to rub against each other at the edges.
The opposite is the case in China’s strategic relationship with the United States, analysts said.
The two are uncomfortably close due to US military presence in South Korea, Japan and, recently, a number of Central Asian republics.
They may also eventually compete for dominance of the Western Pacific, once China’s navy assumes blue-water capabilities, according to experts.
As the US juggernaut under the Bush administration expands its influence in international affairs in a unilateral fashion, China and Europe may find more common ground.
“China values Europe’s independent role in world politics,” said Yu. “It offers a different approach to international affairs.”
While politics may unite China and Europe, economic ties lag far behind China’s exchanges with the United States.
The Europeans are in a relatively unimpressive third place among China’s largest trading partners.
China’s trade with the EU totaled $77.1 billion in the first eight months, behind $78.5 billion with the United States and $83.5 billion with Japan.
Now may be the best time in years for China and the EU to improve their economic relationship, according to observers.
“Europe is not in a very good shape at the moment, and the economy of China seems to be growing very fast this year,” said Martin Fournier, an economic expert at the Hong Kong-based French Center for Research on Contemporary China.
“So for Europe, there’s an interest in strengthening economic ties with China.”
China said earlier this month it expected Europe to eventually become its largest trading partner.
That would mark a significant change from the situation today, and there is still a long way to go.
According to observers, the bullish prediction is mainly a political statement, to respond to recent US criticism of the trade deficit with China and American pressure to strengthen the yuan.
“It’s a way for China to say, ‘We don’t care, we can always sell our products to Europe’,” Fournier said.
