In Conversation with Wendy Sherman-Event with Friends of European on April 21, 2022.  Source: Twitter/Wendy R. Sherman

Three events this week to look out for Sino-EU ties

Welcome to the CCCEU Weekly Update! Hope you had a wonderful Easter break. In this week’s update, your editor highlights three key events to watch for China-EU relations. Keep reading, enjoy, and have a lovely weekend!

Diplomatic Whirlwinds  

Three women are our stars: two from China and one from the United States. They are Ms. Ma Keqing, former Chinese Ambassador to Finland and the Czech Republic and head of China’s Foreign Ministry's working group, Ms. Huo Yuzhen, Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for China-CEEC Cooperation, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman. 

They were in Europe on separate missions. The first of the three to reach Europe was Ma. She led a delegation to Greece from April 12 to 14 to meet with Greek government officials and the press in honor of the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two nations. Ma also spoke about China-EU relations, the Ukraine crisis, and other global and regional issues of mutual interest. 

Albania was the second leg of her trip, and it appears that the delegation stayed there for five days. According to the Chinese embassy in Albania, Ma met with Albanian officials and academics. 

On Thursday, she was in Malta, the heart of the Mediterranean, as well, at a time when the two countries were celebrating the 50th anniversary of their diplomatic ties. 

Parallel to Ma’s trip, China launched a "charm offensive" in other parts of Europe. On Monday, Ms. Huo led a diverse delegation to eight central and eastern European countries: the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, and Poland. 

According to the "Shanghai Observer," Ms. Huo's visit is remarkable for its timing, as it is the first time China has dispatched a delegation to CEE countries since the war in Ukraine erupted nearly two months ago. 

According to the report, Huo's delegation is diverse, including academics, corporate executives, and civil society representatives in addition to government officials. As a result, their topics will no longer be limited to politics, but will also include economic and cultural issues. 

According to a member of the delegation, during the pandemic, people-to-people exchanges between China and CEE countries decreased, resulting in increased misunderstandings, and some CEEC are heavily influenced by Washington and prejudiced against China's position on regional issues, particularly the Ukraine crisis. 

According to the report, the delegation "overcomes many challenges and looks forward to an open and direct dialogue with its European friends." 

Sherman, meanwhile, was in Brussels from Tuesday through Friday. On Thursday, she was in town for the third high-level US-EU dialogue on China. The US's No. 2 diplomat visited NATO and met with Bjoern Seibert, the President of the European Commission von der Leyen's cabinet chief. 

Sherman gave a speech to the "Friends of Europe" on Thursday afternoon, and then met with her French, German, Italian, and UK counterparts. 

Journalists were paying particular attention to her stance on China in the backdrop of the Ukraine crisis. According to the South China Morning Post, Sherman sharpened the threat of sanctions if China helps Russia. 

Instead, Valdis Dombrovskis, executive vice-president of the European Commission and the EU’s trade commissioner, was in Washington, reportedly to negotiate for upcoming transatlantic Trade and Technology Council meeting scheduled for May 15-16 in Paris. Politico has the story. 

The ratification of two key International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions on forced labor by China on Wednesday was the third major development in Sino-EU ties. As we wrote in last week's edition, the action was widely regarded as a positive development for bilateral relations.

What could we make of the three events?

First, bilaterally, China has been stepping up its diplomatic efforts to deepen ties with Europe since the 23rd China-EU summit, sending out two high-level delegations and honoring its commitment in CAI to ratify two important conventions.

People-to-people exchanges between China and Europe have declined substantially in the last two years as a result of the pandemic and the resulting control measures, leading to an increase in misunderstanding. It is critical to strengthen face-to-face connections at this time.

Sherman's trip to Europe, even the one on Indo-Pacific consultation, was all about China. To counter China's challenge, she told the Friends of Europe audience that Washington is fostering ties with India and other "like-minded allies."

The war in Ukraine fails to sway Washington's priorities, and China remains the world’s most powerful country’s major strategic rival. 

Xi delivers keynote speech at opening of Boao forum  

Chinese President Xi Jinping attended the opening of the 2022 Boao Forum for Asia via video link and delivered a keynote speech on Thursday. It is the sixth time Xi has delivered a keynote speech at the event, held in Boao, Hainan province. Xi proposed a Global Security Initiative to promote security for all in the world and emphasized that humanity is a community of shared destiny, and that all countries should have strong confidence, work together and cooperate to create the future.  

EU Council's Charles Michel meets Zelensky in Kyiv

Charles Michel, President of the European Council, met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on April 20 for talks on Ukraine’s application for EU membership, the sixth package of sectoral sanctions against Russia, the situation in Mariupol, and the reconstruction of Ukraine.  

IMF downgrades world economic growth forecast

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday slashed global growth forecast for 2022 to 3.6 percent amid the Russia-Ukraine conflict, 0.8 percentage point lower than the January projection, according to its newly released World Economic Outlook (WEO) report. 

The Ukraine crisis unfolds while the global economy is "on a mending path" but has not yet fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, the report said, noting that global economic prospects have worsened "significantly" since the forecast in January. 

The latest report said the Russia-Ukraine conflict, monetary tightening and financial market volatility, and the pandemic would shape the near-term global outlook.   

French election: Macron and Le Pen clash in TV presidential debate

The two candidates confronted each other on the cost of living, Russia, climate change and immigration. 

The debate began at 9 p.m. local time on the 20th and was scheduled to unfold in eight themes: purchasing power, retirement system reform, international affairs, European affairs, security, immigration, education, and the environment. The evening's debate clearly focused on French domestic issues, leaving little time for international issues and foreign policy. The debate lasted until 11:50 p.m. and lasted nearly three hours in total. 

The European Commission approves €20 billion German scheme to support companies

The European Commission has approved an up to €20 billion German scheme to support companies active in all sectors in the context of Russia-Ukraine conflict. Under the scheme, the eligible beneficiaries will be entitled to receive limited amounts of aid in any of the following forms: direct grants; tax or payment advantages; repayable advances; guarantees; loans; equity; and hybrid financing. 

The Commission found that the German scheme is in line with the conditions set out in the Temporary Crisis Framework. In particular, the aid will not exceed €35,000 per beneficiary active in the primary production of agricultural products, fisheries and aquaculture sectors and €400,000 per company active in all other sectors.  

What Do Experts Talk About? 

Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Science collects the opinions and views of scholars in the field to discuss the French presidential election he main focus is on the following issues: From the first round of voting results, how to understand the formal deconstruction of the traditional French political landscape? How will the future political ecology be reshaped? After five years in power, has Macron delivered a satisfactory report card? What are the key factors for the ultimate showdown between the two? 

As the only permanent member of the United Nations in the European Union and a major military defense and nuclear power, France plays an important international influence in many fields such as multilateralism, global governance, and climate change. It can be said that the choice of the French president will have a more profound impact on the future of European integration and multilateralism while determining the future course of France's development. 

“The French presidential election-It’s not just about who wins, but how they win” by Georgina Wright, CEPS. The article argues that Like all elections, the outcome on 24 April is hard to predict. But there is a lot riding on its final result, not only for France – but for the whole of Europe as well. The article focuses on the following aspects: The absence of political debate; The importance of the parliamentary elections; What a Macron victory means for France and Europe.

Please note: the English version of this issue is slightly different from our Chinese one. The views and opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the official position of the CCCEU.