Is China an opportunity or a challenge for Europe?

Against the backdrop of the great power game and unprecedented changes in a century, Europe is a crucial third party, and its strategic significance to China is self-evident. Recently, European dignitaries, including French President Marco Long, European Commission President von der Leyen, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez and others, have visited China intensively, which indicates that a new window of opportunity is facing to reshape China EU relations.
Under the changing world, China Europe relations are also facing new changes. In recent years, with the obstacles to European integration, the deepening of the game between China and the United States, and the changes in the comparison of economic strength and political influence between China and the EU, the EU's perception of China's global role has also adjusted, giving rise to three new positions in its relationship with China: China is a negotiating partner that the EU needs to find a balance of interests, an economic competitor seeking technological leadership, and an institutional opponent advocating different governance models. As a result, the European side has changed its previous approach of "returning economy to economy and politics to politics" and started to view its relations with China from the perspective of "integrating politics and economy". The EU's policy towards China and China Europe relations have entered a new turning point.
Firstly, the EU has readjusted its strategy towards China. In particular, von der Leyen's speech on the "Union Situation" in 2021, the EU's "Indo Pacific" strategic document, and the resolution of the European Parliament on the "New Europe China Strategy" can be seen as the wind vane of the EU's policy towards China. Its policy towards China has mainly undergone three major changes: "emphasizing openness and strategic autonomy", "the Europeanization tendency of EU member states' policies towards China (i.e. more member states' policies towards China are further closer to the EU)", and "the geopolitical tendency of EU policies towards China". Secondly, the joint pressure of the United States and Europe on China is constantly increasing. After continuous adjustment in recent years, there has been a trend of strengthened coordination and cooperation in US European policies towards China. Thirdly, the EU's policy towards China highlights "duality". On the one hand, it is manifested as the "duality" of strategic consistency and specific domain independence between the EU and the United States, that is, consistency with the basic direction of the US strategy towards China, but independence in specific policy fields towards China; On the other hand, it is also manifested as the "duality" of cooperation and struggle between the EU and China. The EU's overall policy towards China emphasizes the main direction of competition and cooperation, but its stance on conflict and contradiction issues is also becoming stronger, and China Europe relations are facing tests and challenges.
Is China an opportunity or a challenge for Europe? Looking back at history, the reason why China Europe relations have withstood the test of historical storms is mainly because they are rooted in a wide range of common interests. The huge market potential formed after China's reform and opening up has absorbed a large amount of European goods, services, capital, and technology, and the demand from China has also driven the rapid development of Europe. With the deepening of European integration and the deepening of China's reform and opening up, China and Europe have formed a comprehensive, wide-ranging, and multi-level cooperation pattern. In the past 50 years, the scale of trade between China and Europe has grown by over 250 times, and the economic and trade relationship between China and Europe has maintained rapid growth in both quality and quantity.
In the field of bilateral trade, China's share of EU foreign trade has increased from 4.4% to 16.2% in the past decade. In the field of bilateral investment, the EU has become the main destination for China's investment in developed countries. The main target industries for China's direct investment in Europe are concentrated in manufacturing, finance, information transmission, software, and information technology services. Complementary cooperation in the industrial sector between China and Europe has further deepened. In addition, since the reform and opening up, the European Union has been the largest cumulative source of technology and equipment introduced by China. In recent years, as China's manufacturing industry has climbed upstream of the global industrial chain value chain, China has also become the largest source country for European industrial product imports.
During this visit, the heads of state of China and France jointly witnessed the signing of multiple bilateral cooperation documents in fields such as agriculture, food, technology, aviation, and civil nuclear energy. Among them, the signing of the largest single ultra large container ship order in Chinese shipbuilding history between China Shipbuilding Group and France's Dafei Group in Beijing, as well as the signing of a batch purchase agreement for 160 aircraft between China Aerospace Materials and Airbus, are the strongest proof of China Europe's win-win choice in the manufacturing industry.
At present, China EU relations are facing a new window of opportunity. In fact, even if there are murmurs of "decoupling" from China within Europe, maintaining cooperation with China in the midst of a century long upheaval is still an inevitable option for Europe. The previous visits to China by German Prime Minister Schultz and President of the President of the European Council Michel, the joint visit of Makron and von der Leyen, and the upcoming visit to China by the EU's top official in charge of foreign affairs, Borrelli, all highlight the symbolic and substantive significance of the EU's improvement of relations with China: first, to stabilize the main tone of mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Europe, and to avoid bias in the perception of China France and China EU relations within Europe; Secondly, "getting out of trouble" - Currently, EU member states, including France, are suffering from high inflation and "energy scarcity", and the manufacturing industry is severely impacted, unable to bear the cost of losing the Chinese market; Thirdly, "balance" - Europe has always regarded itself as an important global pole, while China has always viewed China Europe relations from a strategic perspective, supporting European integration, EU unity and prosperity, and EU "strategic autonomy" for a long time. In a sense, maintaining independent relations with China is also conducive to a strategic balance in Europe's relations with the United States.
China Europe relations are an important cornerstone of a stable framework for major country relations. The total economic output of China and Europe accounts for one-third of the world, making them the "two major forces" for maintaining world peace and the "two major markets" for promoting common development. Facts have proven that the more turbulent the international situation, the more prominent the global challenges, and the more prominent the global significance and strategic impact of China Europe cooperation. Looking ahead, how China and Europe can work together to build a strategically determined bilateral relationship, create a new paradigm of equal and mutually beneficial major country relations for a multipolar world, and bring new opportunities and new impetus to the world will be a challenge and epochal proposition that both China and Europe will face together.