摘要：Fifty years ago, China and the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the Europe Union (EU), established diplomatic relat

ByJan Turowski

Fifty years ago, China and the European Economic Community, the predecessor of the Europe Union (EU), established diplomatic relations, opening a new chapter in the history of China-Europe relations. Over the past five decades, profound changes have taken place in the countries themselves, in their relations with each other, and in the global context in which these relations are embedded.

First and foremost is China's own transformation into a global economic power. This historically unique development is also reflected in its relations with the EU and laid the foundation for an unprecedented economic alliance. Both benefited enormously from it. Their trade volume rose from $2.4 billion in 1975 to $785.8 billion in 2024, while mutual investment rocketed from almost zero to around $260 billion. In 2003, a "China-EU comprehensive strategic partnership" was launched.

The world system is changing. Initially shaped by the Cold War bloc confrontation, and then by the unipolar moment of unchallenged U.S. hegemony, it is now being increasingly determined by emerging multipolarity and the rise of the Global South.

These changes have accelerated enormously in recent years. The war in Ukraine is raising new questions about comprehensive security in Europe, transatlantic relations and American security guarantees. U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff policy has made it abundantly clear that there is a shift away from the Western-led liberal world economic order and a return to protectionism, isolationism and the erosion of international rule-based systems.

The world is therefore in a historic state of upheaval, in which the economic and political relationships between the Global North and the Global South, between China and the U.S., and between China and the EU, are being reorganized.

EU yet to find its role in a multipolar world

With the end of the unipolar era and 400 years of Western-dominated world order, especially the concentration of geo-economic power in the U.S., from which Europeans also benefited, the EU now stands at a crossroads.

Some EU officials have responded to these changes defensively, with old reflexes, declaring China a "systemic rival" and constantly portraying China as a threat. Despite a multitude of global challenges that can only be overcome together, close trade relations between China and the EU, which are integrated into global supply chains and therefore are highly interdependent, have suffered considerably in recent years. The change in sentiment within the EU towards China was largely due to Europe allowing itself to be drawn into the accelerating spiral of confrontation between China and the U.S.

In view of the manifold global crises and a weakening world economy, Europe-China "win-win" cooperation seems more important today than ever before. However, how the EU's relations with China develops in the coming years depends not only on how Europe redefines its relationship with China, but more on how it adapts to the new multipolar realities.

Strategic autonomy in a multipolar world?

In a multipolar world, Europe must reinvent and establish itself as an independent power pole with sufficient strategic autonomy and diversified economic ties to the other power poles. The founding of the EU as an autonomous geo-economic region was driven by the motivation to be independent in its political actions, even though it is an integral part of the West under the auspices of the U.S., and to represent its own interests with self-confidence.

In recent years, however, an increasingly exclusive focus on the transatlantic space has brought the danger of Europe drifting into a geo-economic core-periphery relationship with the U.S. in this new multipolar world order and surrendering its autonomy as a geo-economic region.

As an independent power center, the EU can gain economic and political advantages only if it pursues a balancing strategy that enables it to maintain good relations with different external powers and geo-economic regions. The EU's strategic autonomy and influence depend on a balance of dependencies. The moment the EU commits itself permanently to one region, both its partner region and its opponents will lose their incentive to accommodate Europe's strategic interests.

The rest of the world has already moved on, both in terms of the changing contours of global trade and the emergence of new payment and capital flow institutions that are decentralizing the U.S. dollar. We are witnessing the end of transatlantic globalization, which is being replaced by a multipolar form of globalization, and excessive dependence on the U.S. is no longer advantageous for the EU.

Need for a new world view

Nevertheless, the EU can't answer the question of whether it should remain exclusively committed to the transatlantic region or open up politically to other geo-economic regions, especially the economically dynamic Eurasian region, on the basis of strategic pragmatism alone. To do so, it needs a new world view and self-perception.

The EU's geopolitical thinking continues to be characterized by a sense of superiority over the rest of the world. This means that countries such as China, which pursue an independent foreign policy and an independent development path, are not merely seen as alternatives, but are often perceived as direct opposites and even threats to Western liberalism.

This world view makes strategic course corrections difficult because the new multipolar world order is not seen as a new, naturally evolved normality to which one should adapt pragmatically and constructively, but as an anti-Western project that must be resisted.

Only when the EU understands the "multipolar world order" as a necessity and an opportunity for its strategic autonomy can a new dynamic of cooperation in European-Chinese relations be expected.

Jan Turowski, a special commentator for CGTN, is the chief representative of the Beijing representative office of the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, a non-profit for civic education.

来源：中国网一点号