Abstract
This chapter introduces the development of China-EU trade and investment relations in the past ten years, since the announcement of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership; it also analyzes the driving forces behind China’s trade surplus with the EU, the situation of the bilateral trade disputes, as well as the issue of the “Market Economy Status” (MES) in the bilateral trade relations. The author concludes that great changes have taken place regarding the economic strength and international positions of the two sides, as well as the international environment in the ten years since the establishment of the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. The author also noted that despite the high growth rate of the trade volume between China and the EU, neither side had made adequate preparations for the sharp rise in bilateral trade and no efficient mechanism had been set up to react to such situations. In the next ten years, China should try to shift from its passive status with the bilateral trade agenda, get rid of its former approach of developing bilateral relations with focused on form instead of substance, and construct a new way of thinking concerning China-EU economic and trade relations.
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Notes
- 1.
Data concerning product structure in China-EU trade come from Eurostat.
- 2.
EuroStat (2013).
- 3.
The Ministry of Commerce, the National Bureau of Statistics, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange: the 2011 Statistical Bulletin of China’s Foreign Direct Investments.
- 4.
- 5.
DG Trade (2013).
- 6.
EuroStat News Release (2013).
- 7.
- 8.
The Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics, State Administration of Foreign Exchange: 2010 Statistical Bulletin of China’s Foreign Direct Investments.
- 9.
The Office of the Economic and Commercial Counsellor to France of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/sys/print.shtml?/i/jyjl/m/201304/20130400102296, accessed on April 25, 2013.
- 10.
The Office of the Economic and Commercial Counsellor to France of the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, http://www.mofcom.gov.cn/sys/print.shtml?/i/jyjl/m/201304/20130400102294, accessed on April 25, 2013.
- 11.
- 12.
- 13.
Hanemann (2013, February).
- 14.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
The result was calculated by the Author according to data from Eurostat.
- 18.
One report issued by the European Union Institute for Security Studies also held a similar view. See Zaborowski (2006).
- 19.
The original author built a triangle model among China, the US, and other East Asian countries. Based on this model, the Author of this paper adopted the EU’s data in recent years for validation and believed that a similar triangle model also existed among China, the EU and East Asian countries and territories including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan (China), etc.
- 20.
European Commission, “EU China Trade in Facts and Figures,” MEMO/09/40, Brussels, 30 January, 2009.
- 21.
Freytag (2008).
- 22.
Fredrik Erixon, “Back to Basics: Economic Reforms and EU China Relations,” ECIPE Bulletin No.09/2012.
- 23.
Feng Lei, Wang Yingxin: A Study of China’s Trade Surplus with the EU, http://ies.cass.cn/Article/xshd/xshddsj/200710/539.asp.
- 24.
Ye andYu (2008).
- 25.
UNCTAD, “Global Value Chains: Investment and Trade for Development,” World Investment Report 2013, UNCTAD 2013ư WTO, “Trade Patterns and Global Value Chains in East Asia: From Trade in Goods to Trade in Tasks,” WTO 2011.WEF, “The Shifting Geography of Global Value Chains: Implications for Developing Countries and Trade Policy,” WEF 2012.
- 26.
- 27.
- 28.
According to data released by Eurostat on March 16, 2012, the EU’s imports from China were 292.1 billion euros in 2011. EuroStat, news release, EuroIdicators, 44/2012, 16 March 2012.
- 29.
Regular news conference at the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (2013, January).
- 30.
Committee on International Trade, the European Parliament, 2011/0437 (COD), 7.11.2012.
- 31.
Fredrik Erixon, “Back to Basics: Economic Reforms and EU-China Relations,” ECIPE Bulletin No. 09/2012.
- 32.
OECD (2013).
References
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Xin, C. (2017). China-EU Economic and Trade Relations. In: Zhou, H. (eds) China-EU Relations. Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1145-0_3
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