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a bigger play for Chinese investment, which due to PRC lending practices pose a long tern financial risk, including the whole EU - this the location of proclaimed 10 billion USD in investment, largely reflected in contracts for land infrastructure.
4.3 Political Elements and Values of 16+1 Cooperation
One of elements evident with the research conducted by this author is the state of political relationships. It is an important element within the overall sub-regional relationship, and basis of many bilateral relationships of particular CEEC’s and China. As discussed during the literature review as well underlined in this chapter, it is also the area of politics that carries important commitments, political values and cooperation goals that has been constituting to the 16+1 cooperation until year 2019. Among the important claims present in majority of available analysis there is certain level of conviction that this China-led mechanism is a pragmatic form of promotion of Chinese norms and values, including the Five Rules of Peaceful Coexistence as a baseline of PRC’s international relations. It acts therefore as a platform for implementation of the view of Beijing on how the international relations of the new era should look like, and by these actions unload its strategic objectives including those going beyond the sub-regional dimensions (like i.e. the BRI).
According to the preamble of the Medium-Term Agenda for Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (2015), “the annual 16+1 Summit plays a guiding role in 16+1 cooperation by drawing up annual guidelines, identifying key deliverables and resolving outstanding issues in the course of cooperation in a timely fashion”. It can be therefore stated, that the Guidelines for China – CEEC’s cooperation released annually during every annual Summit, are the main political document announced by the attending Heads of Governments, which is also the most comprehensive document, requiring extensive coordination and consultation during its drafting. Apart from stating the aforementioned key deliverables, objectives and issues of pragmatic cooperation, it also in its initial parts underline the strategic objectives and values, that all the Participants must follow in cooperation under the 16+1 framework. It therefore can be used as a good tool to map the presiding and most emphasized values and elements, that can allow to find further analogies in cross-regional strategies, as well as analyze the changes in the nature of the most important elements and objectives from the beginning of the mechanism until the time of this research.
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Based on the analysis of the Guidelines documents from the seven annual Summits summarized within the below Table 8. (below), there are several important elements to be underlined. In the first three years of 16+1 cooperation, there was a clear emphasis on solidifying of friendship and deepening of partnership, with presiding Chinese values of mutual respect, mutual benefits and equality aimed for creation of common development based on national needs. It could be described as the initial stage, where the cooperation has been conducted towards creation of regional drivers supporting the enthusiasm and identity based in reaffirmed political statements. The first Chinese Summit in Suzhou, where the first Mid-term Agenda plan has been published, as underlined in the theme of that event started a new stage, with several changes in the emphasized values and goals. Among the new elements were the emphasis on complementary character of the mechanism, that included the idea of developing of synergies between the EU, including the Chinese strategic idea of cross-regional partnership for peace, growth, reform, and civilization. Another element of change was to signal, that the format does not aim to substitute the bilateral relationship (is not intended to become a platform of bilateral relationships of CEEC’s and China), but to complement them in search on the areas of sub-regional cooperation. It also affirmed commitment of respect of all Participants towards sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The following Riga Summit has been more balanced in political declarations, however the situation changed in the Budapest Summit, where another new element has been introduced, underlining the connections to BRI and the 1st BRF in Beijing, with largely extended values and principles. Apart from all the important elements evident in the BRI rhetoric and overall Chinese foreign interactions referred to the elements of newly re-emphasized international role of Beijing in the areas of global governance and economic development. It could be therefore argued, that in light of previous Summits declarations and larger context of the Chinese presence during World Economic Forum in Davos, the Belt and Road Forum and new political changes related to the 19th CPC National Congress are an evidence of further efforts directed toward aligning of Chinese political discourse in the sub-regional platform of 16+1, and in a way partially the larger cross-regional engagement of China and the EU.
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Table 8. Values and Commitments of 16+1 Cooperation (2013-2019)
Reaffirm commitment to Acting on the basis of Cooperating for Bucharest Guidelines – 2013
Theme – “Win-Win Cooperation for Common Development”
• Solidifying traditional friendship,
• Conforming to the respective features of development and cooperation needs
mutual respect, equality and mutual benefit
• Benefit of development in all the countries, their peoples as well as world peace and stability, while offering useful experience for countries with different civilizations, systems and levels of development to live in harmony with one another and develop hand in hand.
Belgrade Guidelines – 2014
Theme - "New Driving Force, New Platform and New Engine"
• Deepening their partnership for peace, growth, reform and
civilization based on the principles of equality, respect and trust
equality, mutual benefit and win-win cooperation
• Benefiting their countries and peoples, achieving common development and prosperity, and promoting peace and stability
Suzhou Guidelines and Mid-term Agenda – 2015 Theme – “New Beginning, New Domains, New Vision”
• Implementing the Mid-term Agenda in light of their respective realities, needs and priorities, through
• Advancing in important national and regional projects.
• Instead of substitution of existing bilateral cooperation mechanisms or platforms to complement and reinforcing them to enhanced and expanded cooperation
• Developing of synergies with major EU initiatives and plans and
contribute to partnerships for peace, growth, reform and civilization.
Riga Guidelines – 2016
Theme – Connectivity, Innovation, Inclusiveness and Common Development
• Forging an efficient, practical and lasting 16+1 Cooperation, as well as to developing synergies between
• Enhancing existing cooperation and fostering cooperation in new areas
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Theme – “Deepening economic, trade and financial cooperation for win-win development'
• Enhancing coordination, exploring innovative ways of cooperation and building a lasting partnership in the 16+1 framework
• Cooperating within the Belt and Road initiative of China through
• Further development of synergies between the Belt and Road initiative and important initiatives such as the Investment Plan for Europe, as well as development plans of respective countries
• Elevating ties to a higher level
Sofia Guidelines - 2018
Theme – “Deepening open and pragmatic cooperation for inclusive prosperity”
• The principles of mutual respect, mutually beneficial cooperation and building an open world economy, making economic globalization more dynamic, inclusive and sustainable.
• Develop cooperation in the spirit and according to the principles of the UN Charter.
• Contribute to the achievement of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable
Development
• Ensure that China-EU relations continue to develop in a balanced way
• Implement the Belt and Road cooperation MOUs that they signed to bring more results to this cooperation
Dubrovnik Guidelines - 2019
Theme – “Building new bridges through openness, innovation and partnership”
• Uphold the UN Charter and
international law, the three pillars of the UN and transparency,
inclusiveness, fairness, justice and pragmatism
• Fight corruption and bribery in all their forms
• Promote economic globalization
• 16+1 constitutes an important part of Europe-China relationship and complements the EU-China
Comprehensive Strategic Partnership
• Deepening their partnership for peace, growth, reform and
• To promote economic globalization, help realize the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development, and encourage full implementation of the Paris Agreement
• To jointly support development of a sustainable and open world economy, and a rules-based multilateral trading system with the World Trade
Organization (WTO) at its core
Source: Compiled by this author based on the Guidelines for 16+1 Cooperation issued in the years from 2013 until 2019.
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This trend is also evident in the two following summits, where further emphasis on the role of 16+1 in supporting of cross-regional strategic relationship of China and the EU, and declarations of utilizing of the platform to cooperate within the framework of BRI has been stated. There are other elements of the Chinese vision of direct links between Chinese-EU and 16+1 cooperation included in the Dubrovnik Guidelines, with emphasis of partnership for peace, growth, reform and civilization with the Participants, without the emphasis of its base cross-regional dimension. Year 2018 and 2019 has also stated objectives related to the international order and the need to follow the rule based order and multilateral trading system, that again in the larger view of the China-US trade conflict present at the time of this study could suggest to the efforts of Beijing to build support towards its vision of the new IR, as well as other important values. It is important to note, that in spite of emphasis on fair environment for foreign companies, the document from the 2019 Summit does not use the rule of reciprocity which has been underlined in all of the previous years.
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Chapter Five
- China’s cooperation with the Eastern European Countries – 2012 – 2017 perspectiveChina’s cooperation with the Eastern European Countries
Due to favorable traditional conditions for bilateral relations, the relationships between China and each of the CEEC’s is considered to have a special potential for development. Since December 1978 when China started to open itself into the world and build a new future, each of the CEE states has been in a very different place than it is today, not only politically but also economically, in case of law, alliances, global governance and adherence to particular values of international engagement. After the year 1989 many of the CEEC’s decided to switch to market economy, accept the rules-based governance and trade order and align their policy with West, including joining the European Union in 2004. All these shifts resulted in diverse distribution of political sub-regional concepts, that are largely aligned with bipolarity of more liberal eurocentrism and more conservative nationalist approaches. These two main
“directions” impact also how the region perceives engagement with China beyond the bilateral level, with some additional implications for the European Union.
Figure 9. Elements of regional identity resulting in cooperation enthusiasm.
Source: Compiled by this author.
As it has been already described, there are several elements that impact the regional identity of individual Participants of the cooperation mechanism, that by interaction of China and CEEC’s with partial engagement of EU influence the general enthusiasm for cooperation within the format, and analogically the BRI. That enthusiasm as described in the literature review is often associated with the size of individual economies within the region (CASS). As
sub-regional regional identity
History
Inter-
depen-dance Culture
Cooperation enthusiasm
regional
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discussed so far there is little evidence of such a correlation. Furthermore, classifications based by the sizes of economy is relatively misleading, and can be related more to the BRI type of large investment projects that require significant economic backbone to handle the
“lend and build” type of infrastructure involvement of Chinese SOE’s. However, as we can see in the below table, although the market sizes are quite diverse, the purchasing power of the particular economies among the 11 EU member states is relatively even, and this is where large investment projects so far are rather limited.
Table 9. Market size of individual Central and Easter European Countries (2018).
County
Market size
(population in millions)
Purchasing Power
(per-capita GDP, USD)
Poland 37,977 31,938 Romania 19,524 26,446 Czechia 10,593 37,370 Hungary 9,778 31,902 Bulgaria 7,010 23,155 Serbia 6,993 17,555 Slovakia 5,443 35,129 Croatia 4,096 26,221 Bosnia and
Hercegovina 3,504 13,490 Albania 2,874 13,344 Lithuania 2,785 34,825 Slovenia 2,068 36,745 North
Macedonia 2,077 15,709 Latvia 1,950 29,901 Estonia 1,319 34,095 Montenegro 0,624 19,043
Source: Compiled by this author based on data by IMF.
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This together with elements discussed in Chapter 4. of lack of correlation between 16+1 and BRI existence and moves towards more balanced trade adds further negativity towards Chinese positive sub-regional assessments.
Table 10. Differences in roles of 16+1 cooperation based on the level of “bilateralism”.
Role of 16+1
• Remains largely bilateral and highly competitive
• Not fully aligned with respective competences and obligations of Participants
• National Coordinators Meetings – twice a year
• 16+1 Secretariat and CEEC’s Embassies quarterly meetings
• Ministerial and expert level conferences and meetings
• Acts as a platform of local implementation of BRI
• Use the advantage of CEE regional „consensus”
• Acts as an alternative to EU rules for public markets and infrastructure
• CEE as a station on the way to Europe
• Limited synergy between the trans-regional strategies and policy
Support of sub-regional cooperation
• Inherited from China’s previous experience in promoting of regional cooperation (ASEAN, AU, CELAC) – multilateralism a pillar
• Enhancement of regional cooperation – an innovative enrichment of regional cooperation – including the local level
• Engagement of the 16 CEEC’s may increase their leverage with and within the EU
• Limited loans and investments in the EU.
Increased influence among the EU candidates _ _ _ _ _ _ _
• Financial support for the BRI
Conductivity to development
of EU-China relations
• Improvement in trans-regional transport
• Explorations of the market potentials in the CEEC’s – „the demand for
development”
• Better „soft environment for trade” – i.e.
customs inspection and quarantine
• All 16 countries are included in the BRI
• An important policy communication platform for BRI
• Promotion of interconnectivity between EU and China – Eurasian corridor and Land Sea Express Line
• Infrastructure construction cooperation with the EU
• Financial support for the BRI
Multilateral focus; pro-European approach ↔ Nation-focused; bilateral approach Source: Adopted by this author based on literature review and resources of EU Parliament and CASS.
Dichotomy presented in Table 10. summarizing different roles of 16+1 mechanism is further complicated by the fact, that each of the states have their own implications in the areas of politics, economics, sustainability as well as the respective competences and obligations
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towards international organizations, including the exclusive competences of the EU. This author argues therefore, that to properly understand the added value of the mechanism and the role it plays in the sub-regional relationship with Europe it’s necessary to have more holistic look on the question of lateral relationships of the CEEC’s in particular emphasis on the bilateral dimension.