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    "Philippe Le Corre"
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Source: Getty

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China’s Challenging Year in Europe

Despite China’s apparent enthusiasm, the “year of Sino-European friendship” has brought more challenges than successes, due to a mix of promise fatigue on the European side; growing Chinese assertiveness on the international stage; and increasing Chinese propaganda and controversies around the Covid-19 pandemic.

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By Philippe Le Corre
Published on Nov 10, 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: Echo Wall

Both China and the European Union enjoy anniversary years, and 2020, marking the 45th anniversary of their diplomatic relations, was meant to be a special one. From early 2019, Chinese government think-tanks and media started publishing lengthy reports on the state of the EU and its members, praising a flourishing bilateral relationship and calling for further steps. Chinese analysts were especially keen on stressing that relations with China’s largest export market were at their height – quite unlike the Sino-American relationship, which had sunk into acrimony under the Trump administration.

Despite China’s apparent enthusiasm, the “year of Sino-European friendship” has brought more challenges than successes, due to a mix of promise fatigue on the European side (with regard to a better access to the Chinese market for European companies in particular); growing Chinese assertiveness on the international stage; and increasing Chinese propaganda and controversies around the Covid-19 pandemic. In addition, Europeans have started to realize that China is not just an aspiring global power, it has become one. President Xi Jinping’s assertion that, “This new era will see China moving closer to center stage and making greater contributions to mankind,” has turned into reality. China has in fact already moved to center stage. In a year marked by a global pandemic, however, China’s double approach towards the EU and its members has thus far been unsuccessful.

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This paper was originally published by Echo Wall.

About the Author

Philippe Le Corre

Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Europe Program

Philippe Le Corre was a nonresident senior fellow in the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

    Recent Work

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Philippe Le Corre
Former Nonresident Senior Fellow, Europe Program
Foreign PolicyEast 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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