There has been much talk in the past about China and the European Union having more in common in a number of policy areas than either has with the United States.  Thus Beijing saw the EU as a potential factor moderating US influence; Washington could see a world being led by a G2 of the [...]

A casual reader of the European and American media might be forgiven for thinking that many people see the West losing out to China over trade. It is understandable that many, including of course those who have lost their jobs to China, see a rising trade deficit (EU €169 billion and US $268 billion in [...]

Lisbon Treaty and a new EU hierarchy point to greater stability and a resurgent dynamism” by Stanley Crossick, published in the Beijing Review 24 December 2009. “The year 2009 was a difficult one for the European Union (EU). The European Parliament elections, held in June, are always disruptive. The results were disappointing with a low [...]

The prime question is: why did Beijing choose to hold such a major event?  The decision was only taken in late September.  There were some 200 delegates and another 100 observers.  The Chinese official line-up was impressive, including Li Keqiang, Li Junru, Dai Binguo, Zhang Zhijun and a separate meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao (see [...]

It’s interesting to compare the populations of EU Member States with those of Chinese provinces: • 14 Chinese provinces figure in the biggest 20 • 4 are bigger than Germany • 8 are bigger than France and the UK • 9 are bigger than Italy • 14 are bigger than Spain • 15 are bigger than Poland These figures put in [...]

The postponed 2008 EU-China summit took place in Prague on 20 May. The Beijing 2007 summit was followed by a joint declaration of over 47 paragraphs. The post of 23 December 2007 questions why such a statement has to be issued when very little of its contents were discussed at the summit. However, after the [...]

The post of 15 May on US ambassadorial appointments drew attention to the failure of President Obama to appoint ambassadors in Brussels and Beijing. Today, however, Utah’s Governor Jon Huntsman has been nominated ambassador to China. The appointment is very interesting for a number of reasons, not least of which is that he is a [...]

I have as yet not even heard serious gossip as to who President Obama will nominate as Ambassador to the European Union.  and was wondering whether this was a reflection of the relevance of Europe to the new president.  However, Beijing too is still without a nomination; although possible names have been mentioned.  From 1 July, [...]

We have a surfeit of leaders in the European Union (to borrow a phrase from The Economist’s Charlemagne) but a deficit of leadership. Barack Obama had recently to share the press briefing, following an uninspiring EU-US Summit in Prague on 5 April, with no less than the President of the Commission and the Prime Ministers [...]

The second EU-China High Level Economic & Trade Dialogue (HLD)  ended today in Brussel.  A debriefing will be posted next week.    The Financial Times published an op-ed today by the leader of the Chinese delegation, Vice-Premier Wang Qishan, under the title, “China and Britain need to join hands over crisis”   Readers may be [...]