China is on track to become the largest economy in the world. European governments, businesses and other stakeholders have started a serious, strategic debate on the growing role and influence of China in the world, including in Europe. Key issues include European responses to 5G, China’s Belt and Road Initiative, human rights, knowledge security, and industrial and competition policy.
Our experts of the Clingendael China Centre have published and contributed to many in-depth reports on China relations on various topics. We picked five of their best read reports.
1. China's influence in Europe through investments
China’s role as a global investor and financier has grown rapidly in recent decades, nowhere more so than in Europe. In 2017, a full quarter of China’s outbound foreign direct investment was destined for Europe. This report aims to carefully scrutinize the linkage between Chinese investment in Europe and China’s influence in the region and provides a nuanced and careful analysis that goes beyond the alarmism and polarization that dominates so much of the recent discussion about China’s role in Europe.
2. Political values in Europe-China relations (17 case studies)
What role do political values play in Europe-China relations 70 years after the signing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? Should Europe’s political values extend beyond the scope of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, for instance, to include concepts of economic liberalism? Through case studies of 17 countries and the European Union (EU) as an actor, this report analyses the role political values play in Europe’s China policy and whether China has any influence on the understanding of political values in the EU member states and Norway.
3. A United Nations with Chinese characteristics?
The Chinese government is becoming more active and more influential in the United Nations (UN). This is likely to have – or, in the eyes of some, already has – a significant impact on the UN’s (future) functioning. Growing Chinese influence is important for all UN members, and particularly so for Western countries. The report aims to provide a better understanding of the process currently underway and includes three case studies addressing human rights, development finance and climate change.
4. The US–China trade–tech stand-off
As the great power rivalry and (technological) trade conflict between the United States (US) and China intensifies, calls for an export control regime tailored to so-called emerging technologies are growing. The contest is on for the leader in the development and use of emerging technologies, but also for shaping norms and writing the rules for their use. This requires the Netherlands and other EU member states also to redouble their efforts to recraft their own approach to export controls of so-called ‘omni-use’ emerging technologies.
5. China rushes into Brabant: ‘great opportunity, but look closely at the stakes involved’.
How can the province further develop its relations with China, in particular in view of the interrelation between economic opportunities and international political developments? While China is a fast-growing investor in the Netherlands, political relations between the Netherlands and China are becoming more complex as geopolitical factors and increasingly relevant. This poses new challenges for subnational government bodies, which are neither mandated nor equipped to deal with international political issues. In interactions with Chinese companies and state institutions, however, economics and politics cannot be kept fully separate.
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