China proves a reliable partner of Europe

The European Union (EU) hosted the much-postponed 11th round of the China-EU Summit in the Czech Republic capital of Prague last Wednesday.

As the highest official consultative mechanism, the annual summit has been held alternatively in an European country and China. The Prague round was scheduled to be held in December, but had to be put off - for the first time in the 11-year history of the this engagement - due to French President Nicolas Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama in defiance of Beijing's opposition.

The fact that Premier Wen Jiabao have traveled 20 hours to and from the Czech capital for a two-hour gathering bears eloquent testimony to how much China cherishes its hard-won friendship with the EU; and its aspirations to work together with the EU to steer the relationship to a higher level steadily without the occasional hiccup. At the same time, the engagement is also an indication of China's sense of responsibility as an emerging power.

In the 21st century, China and the EU will face the task of how to handle their complicated relations with each other: one being the largest developing nation and the other, a highly integrated bloc of developed nations. Given that the political and military power once possessed by the European Continent has been on the decline, it is now time for the Europeans to revise their impressions of a rapidly developing China, and re-evaluate their own, long-trumpeted economic and social development models.

The European people are losing their long-established sense of superiority owing to the gradual decline of the Continent's politico-economic clout in the international community. Despite a pledge to respect human rights and strive for balanced economic development, Europeans had always lost to the United States in the international economic and trade arena.

The outbreak of the financial crisis in the US was once considered by the Continent as a rare opportunity to regain the initiative in reframing the international economic order. In the early period of the crisis, Sarkozy optimistically announced that the crisis would bring an end to the laissez-faire element of US-led capitalism. Peer Steinbrueck, German Minister of Finance, confidently told reporters that Europe's largest economy was capable of surviving the financial crisis. However, in less than two weeks, European countries turned out to have been stricken by the same horrific nightmare as the one in the US.

According to the April data released by the European Commission, the community has suffered a far worse economic recession than the world's largest economy; and, another 8.5 million Europeans are expected to join the ranks of the unemployed in 2009 and 2010. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have all issued warnings about Europe's economic and social conditions.

Besides, the financial crisis has triggered social unrest in France and Spain, and political trouble in Iceland, Czech Republic and Austria, thereby plunging the continent into deep disappointment.

In the international arena, too, Europe is being marginalized. The Financial Times once carried an article claiming China now needs Europe less than the Continent needs the Asian country in bilateral relations. It is known that the Group of Seven industrialized nations created 80 percent of the world's gross domestic product 10 years ago, but now the economic value produced by the G8 club is only half of the world's total.

With the outbreak of the global financial crisis, one Western economy after another has been hit by unprecedented recession, thus accelerating the shift of the world's economic center to China and other emerging economies.

According to estimates by Goldman Sachs, a full-service global investment banking and securities firm, the world's six largest economies by 2050 are expected to be China, the US, Japan, India, Brazil and Russia, with no place left for any European country. When confronted with the economic slowdown, Britain, Germany and other European powers have expressed time and again that they are already financially strained and have no capacity to work out more stimulus packages. According to them, China should play a bigger role in driving the recovery of the world economy. The history of Sino-EU relations indicates that China has always remained a reliable friend. In the 34 years since diplomatic relations were established, China and the EU have set up more than 50 consultative and dialogue mechanisms at various levels covering politics, economy and trade, science and technology, and energy and environmental protection.

The EU is China's largest trading partner, largest export market and, now the Asian nation's largest import target. China's enormous market has provided great commercial opportunities for European enterprises. The flow of a range of cheap but quality made-in-China brands have delivered tangible benefits to the ordinary European consumer, saving about 300 euros every year for every European household.

Given their global strategic significance, China-EU relations undoubtedly have a solid foundation rooted in deep mutual trust, which can be the basis to bolster bilateral relations ranging from economic and trade arrangements to extensive cultural exchanges.

The development of a good Sino-EU relationship needs not only China's efforts, but also a profound self-review of Europe's attitudes and policies toward China. A more open mind on the part of the EU and a more objective and fairer perspective toward the Asian country are expected for deepening bilateral ties.

The author is a scholar with the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations

(Source: China Daily)