In the years after 1989, Europe unilaterally suspended high-level exchanges, military cooperation, government loans and cooperation projects with China, which seriously affected and hindered the development of China-EU economic and trade relations. However, since 1992, China-EU economic and trade relations have started a new round of development due to the general recovery of China-EU political relations. 1In July 1995, the European Commission put forward the "Long-term Policy on China-EU Relations", which emphasized the need to comprehensively develop political and economic relations with China, and made it clear that Europe and China should establish long-term cooperative relations to ensure the realization of the goals of both sides. This is the first long-term development strategy of EU relations with China. It is not only the deepening of the 1985 agreement, but also the initial formation of the EU's strategic policy framework towards China, which is of great historical significance to the development of China-EU economic and trade relations. 1996165438+10, the European Commission announced a new strategy for EU cooperation with China, which further concretized the EU's long-term China policy, re-emphasized the comprehensiveness, independence and long-term nature of the EU's China policy, and indicated that it would further promote exchanges and cooperation between the two sides in the fields of economy, trade, science and technology, and development assistance. 1On March 25, 1998, the European Commission issued the document "Establishing a Comprehensive Partnership with China", demanding that the bilateral political and economic relations between China and Europe be raised to the same level as those of Europe, America, Europe and Japan; We supported China's entry into the WTO as soon as possible, and published a report on the implementation of document 1998 in September 2000.
In order to make the EU implement its China policy defined in 1998 more effectively and pursue the long-term goal of EU- China relations, the European Commission submitted the document "EU's China Strategy: Implementation of 1998 Document and Future Steps to Promote More Effective EU Policies" in May 2000 on the basis of the 2000 report, and formulated a concrete and pragmatic short-term goal: support. Make better use of existing resources in Europe and support exchanges with China; Using modern technology correctly to expand the influence of EU in China. In March, 2002, the European Union published "National Strategy Report: China", which continued to emphasize the China policy objectives set in EU China documents 1998 and 200 1, and further defined three key areas of cooperation with China. First of all, we should ensure the sustainability of China's economic and social reform process by strengthening institutional and capacity building, human resources development and establishing a sound business regulatory framework, as well as promoting the transfer of private sector expertise and technology; Second, by providing knowledge and professional skills to promote sustainable development, help China seek a better balance between environmental protection, social development and economic growth; Third, encourage good governance, promote the implementation of the rule of law, democracy and economic, social, political and civil rights, and strengthen the structure and process of civil society networks.
I. Interest demands
Like any country's foreign trade and economic policy, the change of EU's economic and trade policy towards China also reflects the EU's interest demand for developing China-EU economic and trade relations and the dynamic changes of this interest demand. In addition, after 1995, an important change in the EU's economic and trade policy towards China is that the EU tries to promote the institutional convergence between China and Europe, which is extremely obvious in the development policy; Another notable feature is that the EU's overall China policy is becoming more and more active, while the specific policies and measures to guide economic and trade practice are becoming more and more harsh.
(1) Due to the economic interests of the EU,
From the perspective of economic and trade vested interests, the EU's economic and trade policy towards China and the achievements of economic and trade relations have formed a virtuous circle of mutual promotion. After China-EU Trade Agreement 1985, the trade between the EU and China has developed by leaps and bounds. 1984-2000, the trade volume between China and Europe increased by nearly 12 times. According to the statistics of China Customs, in 20001year, the trade volume between China and Europe reached US$ 76.6 billion, an increase of US$ kloc-0/%compared with 2000, of which EU imported US$ 40.9 billion, an increase of 7. 1%, and EU exported US$ 35.7 billion to China, an increase of US$ kloc-0/.5%. Since 1985, EU's direct investment in China has also made great progress. Especially in the 1990s, the EU became the main target for China to attract foreign investment, and the investment of EU enterprises in China increased steadily. In 200 1 year, the number of EU direct investment projects in China was 12 17, and the actual investment was $4 billion. By the end of 20001,the number of EU investment projects in China had reached12,583, with an actual investment of $30.3 billion. The growth rate of EU investment in China is faster than the average level of China's total direct investment. 1986-2000, the average annual growth rate of EU direct investment projects, contract value and actual investment in China reached 29.0%, 25.9% and 25.9% respectively, which were higher than the average annual growth level of all foreign direct investment in China. The capital intensity of EU investment in China is obviously higher than that of other countries/regions. In 2000, the average scale of EU investment contracts exceeded 8 million US dollars, far higher than the average level of all foreign direct investments of 2.8 million US dollars. In terms of technology export, EU countries are the largest suppliers of advanced technology and equipment in China. From 2000 to 20001year, EU member states exported 23 17 and 1050 technologies to China respectively, with a total contract value of US$ 654,380+03 billion. By the end of 2000 13495, China had imported technologies from EU member states, with a total contract value of about US$ 67.2 billion, accounting for about half of the total technology imported from China. The good performance of China-EU economic and trade relations has provided a solid foundation for the promotion and balance of the EU's foreign economic and trade relations, which fully conforms to the EU's economic interests and requirements, and urges the EU to attach importance to China in its overall policies and strengthen China-EU economic and trade relations.
From the perspective of potential economic and trade benefits, the EU will continue to support the development of China-EU economic and trade relations in terms of policies. In 200 1 year, China's GDP ranked sixth in the world, while the EU document 200 1 holds that "according to the purchasing power parity theory", China's economic strength as a whole is equivalent to that of Japan, second only to that of the United States. Moreover, China has become a new global force and an important market for telecommunications, transportation, energy and environmental protection industries; It is estimated that by 2005, there will be 300 million Internet users in China, compared with 200 million in the United States. 200 1 China's foreign trade has exceeded US$ 500 billion, making it the seventh largest trading country in the world. China has attracted a rapid increase in foreign direct investment, ranking second in the world after the United States, and has been the developing country attracting the most foreign investment for nine consecutive years. However, Europe is building a brand-new market structure and policy structure, which makes enterprises and consumers expect to be cautious, which has a temporary adverse impact on the economic growth of the EU and makes economic activities difficult to be full of vitality. The average GDP of the European Union increased by 4.9% in 196 1- 1970, and decreased to 3.0% in1-19865438. In addition, unlike the United States and Japan, Europe is more dependent on foreign trade. At the same time, China's exports to the EU only account for about 5% of its total imports from outside the EU, while the EU's investment in China only accounts for less than 2% of its investment outside the EU, and the potential for cooperation between the two sides is still huge. Accelerating the development of China-EU economic and trade relations will provide the EU with cheap and high-quality resources and goods (services), an export market with huge stock and increment, and a stable and high-return investment place, which will help promote the EU's economic growth. Therefore, it is obviously in the economic interests of the EU to provide policy guarantee for China-EU economic and trade relations.
(2) For the international political interests of the EU.
The strategic goal for the next five years set by the Portuguese EU Summit in 2000 clearly pointed out that the EU should not only become a leader in Europe, but also set a leading style in the world. This desire is encouraged by the economic strength of the European Union and will also be guaranteed by the economic strength. According to population, GDP, capital export, foreign trade and other indicators (according to OECD statistics), the economic strength of the EU ranks first in the world, surpassing the United States. With the enlargement of the EU, its economic strength will be further strengthened. More importantly, the EU not only has a larger market size and market capacity because the newly joined countries are in the stage of economic take-off, but also, as the world's largest exporter of capital and goods and services, the EU, together with its relatively tolerant policy of foreign technical exchange and development cooperation, is crucial to the economic development of other parts of the world, especially developing countries including China. The EU is an economic giant, but it is not content with it. Therefore, the EU is seeking and gradually becoming an important political force completely different from the American model. The goal of Europe is not only to formulate world trade rules, but also to ensure the stability and certainty of the external economy to Europe. Europe will also demand to participate in or even directly formulate international monetary rules, and the euro is the starting point for seeking such power. Europe will participate in the formulation of the rules of the international monetary system with a strong unified currency, curb the hegemony of the dollar and expand the interests of European currencies. Due to the support of economic strength and the actual position of European currency in the world monetary system, the rise and strength of the euro is inevitable.
However, the EU's international power demand adopts a "moderate model" completely different from American unilateralism-the EU attaches great importance to expanding understanding and resolving differences between countries through contact, dialogue and cooperation, and does not engage in rigid confrontation; We attach great importance to "multilateralism" in handling international affairs, emphasizing * * * common interests, power sharing and abiding by binding * * * common rules of the game. This will be accepted by more countries and welcomed by many international organizations. The "9. 1 1" incident not only strengthened the EU's belief, but also strengthened the international community's recognition of the EU model. In the EU's view, the "9. 1 1" incident is a historical turning point, which highlights some long-standing problems in the international community. In the era of globalization, local instability will inevitably bring global consequences. To this end, the EU emphasizes the fight against terrorism through effective international legal means in the multilateral system. The EU hopes that the international order will develop healthily after the "9. 1 1" incident, strengthen relations with the third world, including Arab countries, promote their development by strengthening dialogue with these countries and opening their markets to a greater extent, and promote their ties with European countries, thus stabilizing their fragile political systems. In terms of foreign trade, bhaskar Lamy, Commissioner in charge of trade of the European Commission, said in a speech at the European Parliament on September 17 that the primary goal of future trade policy is to seek stability and security, open more markets to third world countries, and strengthen ties with third world countries through multilateral trading systems such as the WTO under the same legal framework, which is in line with Europe's interests. Therefore, considering China's political and economic status, it is not difficult to understand that the development of China-EU economic and trade relations has naturally become an important part of the EU's strategy of seeking international political interests.
At the same time, we should also clearly understand the inherent meaning of the EU's China policy. Foreign policy can be roughly divided into five categories: signal policy, tentative policy, conditional policy, separation policy and implementation policy. Signal policy is just a diplomatic rhetoric, gesture and signal, which has neither responsibility nor implementation problems; The tentative policy is to seek a kind of response and feedback, which may become the basis for the next decision; Conditional policies refer to policies that can only be implemented depending on certain conditions; To a great extent, the policy of separation shows the deviation of words and deeds, or at least takes advantage of the incompleteness of words. The most typical example is that the EU has removed China from the list of "non-market economy countries", but in practice it is mainly handled according to the standards of non-market countries; Implementation policies are generally highly technical policies, such as tariff policies and technical standards. It can be said that these meanings have been reflected in the EU's China policy document. The multiplicity of foreign policy implications provides a broad space for the EU to handle China-EU relations and seek China's support for the EU.
(3) EU's economic and trade policy towards China pays more attention to institutional convergence.
There are still great differences between China and Europe in many political fields, such as human rights, Tibet, Taiwan Province Province, etc., and thus China-EU relations have suffered setbacks. As the document "EU's China Strategy: Implementation of Document 1998 and Future Steps to Promote More Effective EU Policies" issued by the EU in 20001shows, "It is not easy to establish a partnership with China. China's political system is different from most other major countries with which the EU maintains close ties. The EU's concern about human rights and other issues sometimes leads to tension between the two sides. " . Document 200 1 is the latest position and action point of EU's China policy. It not only shows that the EU hopes to maintain a good and sustainable economic and trade relationship between China and Europe through the formulation of long-term policies, but also shows the EU's concern, which comes from its incomprehension of the China issue, the vagueness and illegality of China's long-term policy towards Europe, and the political uncertainty of China as perceived by Europeans. In the analysis of the situation in China in the National Strategy Report: China in 2002, the EU's concerns are once again reflected. In fact, after 1995, a major change in the EU's economic and trade policy towards China is that the EU not only emphasizes the development of economic and trade relations, but also attaches more importance to economic and trade relations as a political tool to seek integration into the international community and the institutional convergence between China and Europe, which is most obvious in the field of EU's "development cooperation".