Source: Institut Montaigne

One would never guess it from the storms that have brewed publicly in Europe about China - the slide in public opinion mood about China in most (but not all) EU countries; the controversies surrounding the "wolf warrior diplomacy" adopted by several Chinese ambassadors (and renamed "Kung Fu Panda" by China’s envoy to Rome); the popular, if not completely accurate, perception that China is responsible for the Covid-19 epidemic; the mixed results of Beijing’s "mask diplomacy"; the increasing media criticism over Xinjiang, Hong Kong and the renewed interest for Taiwan in several EU Member States, and in the Commission.

But the perception of EU-China relations remains largely positive among Chinese foreign policy elites, for good and (from our perspective) less good reasons.

China Trends is meant to understand and communicate how the other side thinks because ignoring the ideas and feelings of other parties can lead to policy mistakes. In the case of China, this is of course easier to ascertain for official, second track expert and analyst views than for public opinion as a whole. It is what the three articles collected in this issue do, and some of the results are indeed surprising. EU-China relations remain on track because both sides share "pragmatism" and support for multilateralism, while China supports European integration. In what could be a very controversial policy for Beijing, a young expert sees the EU’s coming investment screening regulation as a clarification and homogenization of what was a juxtaposition of national systems, or simply absent.

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This article was originally published by Institut Montaigne as part of the fifth issue of the Asia Program’s quarterly publication, China Trends.