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    "François Godement"
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Source: Getty

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China’s Relations with Europe

The relationship between China and European nations has been rewritten and largely turned around in the last four decades.

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By François Godement
Published on Jan 5, 2020
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The Asia Program in Washington studies disruptive security, governance, and technological risks that threaten peace, growth, and opportunity in the Asia-Pacific region, including a focus on China, Japan, and the Korean peninsula.

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Source: Oxford University Press

The relationship between China and European nations has been rewritten and largely turned around in the last four decades. From presence and influence in China, the main issues have shifted and now revolve around China’s presence and influence in and near Europe. Crucially, Chinese investment in Europe has now overtaken European investment in China. China’s relations with Europe are extensive and still growing. They include intensive state-to-state diplomacy, public diplomacy that involves European elites, an outsize trade relationship as well as an investment strategy leading to increasing friction, people-to-people exchanges that consist primarily of tourist and student flows from China to Europe, and cultural influences or soft power.

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Published in China and the World, ed. by David Shambaught, Oxford University Press

About the Author

François Godement

Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program

Godement, an expert on Chinese and East Asian strategic and international affairs, was a nonresident senior fellow in the Asia Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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François Godement
Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Asia Program
François Godement
East AsiaChinaWestern Europe

Carnegie does not take institutional positions on public policy issues; the views represented herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees.

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