Análisis Horizontal de los Estados Financieros

Both in academic literature and the media the question of whether Europe, or the EU, actually matters to the PRC is asked. The fast rise of power might make the PRC look like an actor that does not take into account any other actors and only handles in its’ own interest. The question

remains how Europe and the EU fit into the PRC’s strategic narratives? Since the PRC’s

leadership is in the hands of Xi Jinping, the PRC has experienced several ambitious reform programs. Next to changing the situation in the PRC, Xi is also actively working on the PRC’s

position in the world, as explained by Zeng (2017) “In the meantime, the shift of China’s grand strategy has also become obvious under Xi’s rule. It is argued that China’s grand strategy has now moved from ‘keeping a low profile’ towards ‘striving for achievement”.

The 2008 financial crisis led the PRC into being the focus of the world. The PRC realized their possibility to become a central actor in global governance, while at the same time the

eurozone crisis negatively changed the PRC’s perception of Europe and the EU. Currently, the

EU is important to the PRC when it comes to economy, due to the EU’s status as largest trading

partner (Franco, 2002). Also, the United States become of less importance to the PRC due to the 2019 ongoing trade war. According to Guorui and Alex (2018) the trade war with the

United States might even be beneficial for the PRC government: “it also gives the

administration ample firepower to push forwards many reforms and regulations that help

China’s economic transition, but would otherwise face opposition from the manufacturing and the export industry”.

31

The PRC’s closed form of government makes it difficult to determine what the real perception

of the EU is. However, the strong economic position the EU as a whole has to the PRC gives reason to believe the PRC is well aware of the importance of keeping a good relation. This strong position could only have been realized because the different European countries united in the institutional structure of the EU. Without the Union’s structure, the separate Member

States on their own are not so relevant to the PRC when it comes to trade relations. The EU

even uses its’ trade power to achieve non-trade objectives such as political and strategic linkages of which the BRI is a good example (Meunier & Nicolaïdis, 2006). The geopolitical situation of the EU is less interesting for the PRC. On the one hand this is because the United States already has that role of central actor to the PRC, but on the other hand the reason for this is that the EU Member States do not always represent themselves as one Union. The different Member States of the EU make it hard for the PRC to determine what direction the

EU and its’ Member States are going in. Therefore it can be concluded that having a strong and clear institutional setting is of great importance for the EU (Meunier & Nicolaïdis, 2006).

VI. Conclusion

The third chapter of this thesis was aimed at explaining the current status of relations between

the European Union and the People’s Republic of China. In the chapter it could well be seen that external action of both the EU and the PRC have been developing over the last years. A major reform for the EU is the bigger role for the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy that makes taking initiative in foreign affairs for the EU a more feasible option. The PRC has gone through a large opening of its’ global strategy and since the

presidency of Xi Jinping is working hard on the rise of the PRC as a global power. The subject of sovereignty within the EU leads to the question of whether the Member States or the EU are in power when it comes to trade relations. Since trade is an area in which the EU is stronger united, the EU is part of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment. As explained by Meunier and Nicolaïdis (2006) the EU can even use their position in trade to reach other objectives. Apart from this form of hard law, the EU and the PRC have multiple forms of soft law between the two, which are mostly based on acknowledging mutual respect for each other. In order to be of relevance for the PRC, this chapter showed how it is important for the EU to be united as one actor. When formulating an answer to the question what is the current status of relations between the European Union and the People’s Republic of China, this

32

chapter showed how the EU and the PRC have relations which are mainly based on economic investment and trade. This chapter helped answer the main question introduced in chapter 1 of to what extent the EU Member States are allowed to cooperate with the PRC on the 16+1 Initiative by explaining that the current relations between the actors mainly entail trade agreements, as well as several examples of soft law.

33