00:00This year marks 50 years of diplomatic ties between China and the European Union.
00:06But the milestone is passing with little celebration.
00:09Relations have cooled in recent years,
00:11strained by disputes over Chinese EV subsidies and Beijing's stance on the war in Ukraine.
00:17Still, in an era of shifting US foreign policy under Donald Trump,
00:22Beijing and Brussels may be quietly reassessing their strategic footing.
00:26To unpack where this complex relationship stands and where it might go,
00:31we're joined by Julia Rognavet from Taylor's University.
00:34Thank you so much for joining us, Julia.
00:37Pleasure being with you.
00:39Julia, 50 years on, how would you characterize the relationship today?
00:43Has it evolved more as a strategic partnership or remained a transactional necessity at this point?
00:50If we take an objective look at China-EU relations,
00:57we can observe that it has been a relationship mainly focused around trade and economic relations.
01:04And probably the key words here will be economic relations and pragmatism.
01:08And it's not due to any ideological considerations that this relationship has been prospering.
01:16As in 1975, exactly 50 years ago, when this relationship was established,
01:22the European countries were capitalist democracies,
01:26and China was and remains, at least politically, a communist country.
01:30However, the trade volume rose significantly from 2.4 billion US dollars to 785.6 in 2024 since the start.
01:46So it's quite significant, right?
01:48And this also reflects the beneficial, the mutually beneficial nature of this relationship
01:52with China's still low cost of workforce, rapid industrialization,
01:59which was able to deliver a sophisticated output
02:02and also allowed European countries to offshore their production
02:08while still keeping the prices for consumers low at the domestic markets.
02:15And today, China still remains second largest trading partner for the EU,
02:21while being the major source of imports to the EU and also largest export market.
02:29Right. But do you think, given all the uncertainty around US foreign policy,
02:34especially in recent years,
02:35do you think China and the EU are trying to find more common ground on their own?
02:42They probably are.
02:44And it also is probably coming out of necessity,
02:47rather than any ideological approximation or being a buddy-buddy in international politics.
02:55Indeed, Trump's trade policies, they are pushing EU to embrace China,
03:03pragmatically, at least in terms of developing economic relationship.
03:07But also, with Trump's administration going against some very important values
03:14in the international system, like sovereignty,
03:17remember his claim for Greenland,
03:19his intention to take Greenland from Denmark,
03:24this also doesn't make the American-EU partners happy.
03:28So, inevitably, it will be pushing EU with the time,
03:33probably not immediately,
03:35because the ideological component of the EU-American,
03:38the transatlantic cooperation is still there.
03:40It will be pushing it towards China.
03:43And part of it might be under the pressure from the United States.
03:48For example, the EU will be buying laundry goods,
03:53which will be coming from China,
03:55but to the third countries.
03:56This might be happening.
03:57Right. I mean, it's definitely an interesting time
03:59to see American relationships with regards to the EU and China as well,
04:04to really assess where they are right now.
04:06So, looking ahead,
04:06is there still meaningful room for cooperation between China and the EU
04:11if we talk about, say, for example,
04:13climate, trade, or global governance?
04:15Or are we watching this strategic relationship slowly drifting away?
04:21Many areas, many potential areas for cooperation.
04:24For example, climate cooperation remains one of the major areas,
04:29and probably it will survive any ongoing geopolitical tensions,
04:34which are at all times high.
04:38And China has been one of the major proponents of new energy sectors,
04:42including, for example, solar energy and wind power,
04:46as well as China has been pushing aggressively for adoption of electric vehicles,
04:53something that EU enforced tariffs against China produced EVs to protect its market,
05:01but also not everybody in the EU was happy about it.
05:04And what will be happening,
05:08while EU cannot afford at this point to increase the cost of international volatility,
05:16how had it increased with, let's say, the Russia-Ukraine crisis,
05:21with the need to cut down on its energy,
05:24it's unlikely to be increasing that cost even further by cutting or reducing its cooperation with China.
05:33And in the long run, if the same policy on the part of the United States continues,
05:38we might even see the EU sort of revolt against this kind of policy,
05:44and instead of antagonizing the major powers like China,
05:48come closer to them, both in terms of trade,
05:52and maybe addressing some other international issues.
05:55Right, that was Julia from Taylors University.
05:59Thank you so much.
06:01It's a situation that we're definitely looking closely here at Awani International.
06:05Now,
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