Economic Security and China-Europea Relations

In March 2021, China sanctioned European individuals and entities in retaliation for European Union (EU) sanctions against Chinese individuals and entities involved in the persecution and mass detention of Uyghurs, Xinjiang. This episode led to the freezing of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI) and marked a turning point in EU-China economic (and political) relations. Europe’s strategic mistrust of China has been further compounded by Beijing’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and, most notably, its indirect support of Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Moreover, the COVID-19 and Ukraine crises have raised concerns across Europe about supply chain and economic security. These concerns dovetail with an intensification of United States (US)-China competition, and a strengthening of transatlantic coordination on China, particularly on issues of economic security and cooperation in strategic technology governance.

All in all, China has taken centre stage in the context of broader European discussions about the need to reduce economic vulnerabilities and strategic dependencies. At the same time, Beijing is engaging in a diplomatic charm offensive in Europe, highlighting the benefits of economic engagement, the preservation of a multilateral global economic system and enhanced political cooperation to tackle global problems such as climate change. These contradictory pressures are compounded by the fact that several European actors have different European perceptions of China, which in turn raises questions about the existence of a coherent European approach to China – let alone a transatlantic one.

Against this backdrop, the Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy (CSDS) and the European Hub for Contemporary China (EuroHub4Sino) convened a closed-door workshop in Brussels. The workshop unpacked the nexus between economic security and Europe-China relations by zooming in on China’s goals and objectives in Europe; the relative weight of economic and political considerations in Europe’s evolving approach towards China; and the role of the US in Europe-China economic and political relations.

These are still important questions today, and one of the aims of the workshop was to contribute to an understanding of what exactly the threats and challenges are, and which should be prioritised, recognising that what may be most important in the long term may not be the most acute and urgent issues in the short term.

The workshop is supported by a European Research Council Starting Grant on Competition in the Digital Era (CODE) led by Prof. Antonio Calcara and Sino-American Competition and European Strategic Autonomy (SINATRA) led by Prof. Luis Simon.