China-EU ties caught in vicious cycle
By Jian Junbo
AALBORG, Denmark - China has historically maintained friendly relations with
Western Europe. In 1975, when China was undergoing the Cultural Revolution,
Beijing forged formal ties with the European Economic Community, a European
Community institution that was the predecessor of the current European Union
(EU).
China has established diplomatic relations with many Western European
countries, and Sino-EU ties have progressed well since the end of the Cold War.
In 1998, the first Sino-EU summit was held in London with both sides pledging
to build a "long, stable and constructive partnership".
In 2003, the two sides upgraded their bilateral relations from
"constructive partnership" to "comprehensive strategic partnership". A joint
commitment to the strategic partnership was strengthened in the 11th Sino-EU
summit held in Prague last May.
This improvement in Sino-EU relations is good news for both sides, as it has
created stable international relations and mutual benefits. Unfortunately, the
Sino-EU comprehensive strategic partnership is neither "comprehensive" nor
"strategic" in reality.
Wu Jianmin, the president of China Foreign Affairs University and ex-ambassador
to France, said that the China and the EU's partnership is "comprehensive" as
it covers many fields such as politics, economy, culture, technology, education
and military links.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao gave more authoritative interpretation during a
visit to Brussels in 2004. Wen said that the term "comprehensive" means both
sides should cooperate in politics and culture as well as trade and technology.
He said the links should be bilateral and multilateral; that they should be
long-term and stable; and that they should extend beyond differences over
ideology and social systems.
But Wen's definition was also an admission that the current Sino-EU
"comprehensive strategic relationship", especially its "strategic" aspect,
remains a goal rather than a reality. This may be due to several factors.
First, there is no genuine "stability" in relations between China and the EU.
Bilateral relations are easily challenged by international incidents. For
example, last year's Sino-EU summit was initially postponed by Beijing after
French President Nicolas Sarkozy, then also the rotating president of the
European Council, met the Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader in exile.
Second, cooperation between China and the EU is mostly limited to economic
matters. Cooperation in other important fields has fallen into stalemate, with
two major stalling points being China's human-rights record and the EU's
embargo on arm sales to China. If China-EU cooperation can be successful only
in economic terms, it is unlikely that "long-term" ties can be developed.
In view of these factors, the future of the Sino-EU strategic relationship may
not be so bright. A lack of mutual trust stands out as the most obvious
obstacle to the strategic partnership becoming a reality. This can be partly -
or perhaps completely - blamed on some negative policies of the EU and its
members.
The European Parliament and some EU member states often imposes pressure on
China by intervening in its internal affairs. Beijing considers such pressure
like a policy of containment against China as a rising power. The EU and some
of its members' intervention in China's internal affairs appear hypocritical,
and this is undermining the basis of the strategic relationship.
The EU and its member states will play the Tibet or human-rights card whenever
they see fit, yet China doesn't have the means or desire to respond in kind.
Beijing has in the past used its economic leverage to "punish" the EU, but
China has never tried to intervene in EU member states' domestic affairs.
In international relations theory, there is often reference to self-fulfilling
prophecies. The theory is that one state's goodwill towards another will result
in the latter reciprocating. The same can be true in negative cycles.
If the current Sino-EU relations are examined with this theory, it is clear
that both sides are pushing movement of this vicious circle - a negative
self-fulfilling prophecy, which has basically resulted from misunderstanding.
In order to remove the mistrust between the two sides, it's necessary to first
dissipate misunderstanding and enhance mutual understanding. If the two sides
do want to build a genuine strategic partnership, both sides should devote
effort and time to this.
It is well known that the Cold War is over, and realpolitik to some degree is
obsolete with the coming of globalization. Governance is much more important
and efficient than competition in power spheres when it comes to solving
international issues.
Unfortunately, both China and the EU view each other as competing in ideology.
The human-rights situation in China is better than in the past, so China views
the human-rights policy of the EU (and the United States) towards China as not
well-intentioned but a malicious intervention in its affairs.
China and the EU should try and resolve common problems through an effective
joint mechanism. Several communication channels currently exist, but do not
seem to be effective. Given the influence and importance of these two powers in
the world, both sides need to understand that a strategic relationship is
different from and more importance than common bilateral relations.
Jian Junbo, assistant professor of the Institute of International Studies at
Fudan University, Shanghai, China, is currently a visiting scholar of
Department of History, International and Social Studies, Aalborg University,
Denmark.
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