The EU and China have now some 20 dialogues going on and five sectoral agreements of major significance are operational. The EU finances a number of projects in China. The relationship is developing into what can be qualified as a “strategic partnership”. In a number of areas the EU and China have important common and/or mutual interests.
One of them concerns the strengthening of effective multilateralism. Some 80% of the objectives of the 2003 EU Policy Paper have by now been accomplished and it, therefore, seems appropriate that in the course of 2006 the EU’s policy goals in its relationship with China are, once again, thoroughly reviewed, updated and assessed in a new Policy Strategy Paper. It is, therefore, proposed that thorough analysis is made of the issues at stake and that, furthermore, developments in a number of areas are closely monitored and assessed.
The objective of the contract was to foster closer cooperation between the scattered European research institutions and the sources of information available within the contemporary China field. The methodology proposed for this operation – Monitoring & Assessing the implications of China’s economic rise for the EU – contained three main elements:
An in-depth study of the implications of China’s rise giving recommendations for the course to follow for the EU;
Monthly and, where necessary ad-hoc, monitoring of and reporting about, first, key developments in China, second, China’s exports and changes therein and, third, China’s investment abroad;
Ad-hoc analysis of and brainstorming on topical issues.