歐盟與中國關係的文化面向：從一帶一路的影響分析 - 政大學術集成

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(1)International Master’s Program in International Studies National Chengchi University 國立政治大學國際研究英語碩士學位學程. THE CULTURAL ASPECT OF EU-CHINA RELATIONS: THE IMPACTS OF THE政 BELT治 AND大ROAD INITIATIVE. 立. • 國. ㈻. 歐盟與中國關係的文化面向： •. n. al. er. io. sit. y. Nat. 從一帶一路的影響分析 Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Miriam Traverso 甜蜜蜜 Advisor: Professor Leng Tse-Kang 冷則剛. May, 2017.

(2) 立. 政治大. •. • 國. ㈻. And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 2.

(3) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. With infinite gratitude and appreciation, I would like to thank all the people that directly and indirectly supported me during my studies and the process of completion of this thesis. Without them this research would not have become reality. First of all I would like to thank my parents, Rossella and Alberto, for always being by my side, loving me unconditionally and always respecting my decisions. I am thankful for their love, guidance upbringing and the perfect model they gave me, but also for their financial support, without it I would not have the change to do this experience.. 政治大 constant availability to meet and discuss with me, for his useful guidance and for always allowing 立 me to take decisions, thus making this thesis my own work. I also truly appreciate the enthusiasm, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Professor Leng Tse-Kang, for his. • 國. ㈻. as well as the precious feedbacks and advices of Professor Lin Yung-Fang and Professor Chang Liao Nien-Chung, I thank them for agreeing to be the committee members for my dissertation.. •. Moreover, my appreciations go to the seven interviewees for their willingness in participating in my. y sit. io. al. er. achievement.. Nat. study and the inspiring comments and information they gave me, making this thesis a well done. iv n C smile, for warm welcome, and for her precious and to Professor Lu Yeh-Chung for granting h e nhelp, gchi U. n. Furthermore, I am grateful to the staff of IMPIS program and in particular to Chafie for her sweet me the IMPIS Scholarship Award, it was very significant both financially and psychologically. I would also like to thank OIC staff for their friendly help. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge my friends Wei Yuanyuan, Kristopher Pickett and Grant Nordby and for being the proofreaders of my thesis; I really appreciated their generous help and valuable inputs. I would also like to express my appreciation to the staff of the European Economic and Trade Office for being amazing co-workers and giving me the precious opportunity to do my traineeship, which is closely related to this thesis. Last but not the least, I would like to express my endless love and gratitude to all my relatives for always supporting and loving me, in particular to Caterina and Giovanni, for being the best 3.

(4) grandparents I could wish for, Marcello, Livia, Miriana and Tiziana; but also to the grandparents that protect me from afar, Roberta and Antonio. Special thanks to my boyfriend, Park Seongcheol, for helping me alleviate the stress of these months and for always finding a way to meet me. My love and affection go also to my dearest friends back home with whom I grew up and became the person I am today: Giulia, Cristina, Chiara, Elena, Claudia, Fiorella, Camilla, Michela, Marco, Davide, Riccardo, Antonio and Mai. Finally, I am also thankful to my friends in NCCU for their encouragement and moral support: Maja, Emily, Filip, Scott, Jan, Viola, Frank, Lala, Felix, Jun, Morgan, Camille, Manuel, and in particular my roommate Maria for sharing every moment of this fantastic adventure with me since the very first day.. 立. 政治大. •. • 國. ㈻. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 4.

(5) ABSTRACT By recalling the idea of the Silk Road as a place of peaceful encounter of civilizations, China is promoting its new, major diplomatic outreach system called the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a network of roads, infrastructures, investments, policy connections and people to people exchanges with the final objective of connecting the PRC to Europe. Indeed, in view of the current international geopolitical circumstances, the Chinese and European leaders are recently emphasizing the importance of the Brussels-Beijing relationships. Nonetheless, many experts complain that this partnership has not yet developed as fast and deeply as the two sides originally hoped. This leads to the first research question addressed in the thesis:"which are the obstacles to a deeper EU-China partnership and how to overcome them and improve the overall relations?". By borrowing the constructivist theories, this thesis argues that the real obstacle to deepening the. 政治大. China-EU partnership are the differences in identities, values and culture, and that the improvement. 立. of the people to people and cultural interactions will enhance the general bilateral relations.. • 國. ㈻. Consequently, the second research question is "which role does BRI play in the China-EU cultural relations?". BRI has the potential to have a positive impact on their relations by providing a new interactions.. •. framework and incentives for the collaboration on cultural projects and people to people. Nat. sit. y. The last two research questions are related to each other: "what are the risks and benefits. er. io. that BRI will bring to the EU?" and "how should the European Union respond to BRI?". By analyzing the risks and benefits that will derive from the implementation of BRI, the author. n. al. Ch. i Un. v. provides some policy suggestions to both sides on how to efficiently implement BRI, and especially. engchi. to EU leaders on how to cooperate with their Chinese counterparts: the EU should definitely cooperate in the Chinese initiative, to ensure a win-win outcome for all, to guarantee the respect of the international norms and to help the PRC maintain the stability in the areas crossed by the BRI network.. 5.

(6) 摘要以絲綢之路作為文明接觸的和平場域為概念，探討中國正在推動「一帶一路」─以連結中歐為終極目標的道路、基礎設施、投資、政策互聯及人民交流網路─的全新重大外交體系。針對當前國際地緣政治的環境，中歐領導人近期確實強調了布魯塞爾與北京關係的重要性。儘管如此，很多中歐關係的專家也指出這種夥伴關係，還沒有達到雙方所預期的那樣快速及深刻。本文的第一個研究問題「進一步發展中歐關係的障礙是什麼，以及如何克服這些障礙？」，便是基於對此國際情勢的考量。透過建構主義理論，本文對深化中歐關係的真正障礙進行討論，認為這些障礙來自於中歐人民身份、價值觀與文化的差異，並提出促進中歐人民之間的文化交流來加強中歐關係的可行方案。因此，本文提出第二個研究問題，「一帶一. 政治大. 路在中歐文化關係中扮演什麼角色？」，對前項結論接續探討，發現由於一帶一路為中歐雙. 立. 方提供了文化專案及人際交流合作的動機和框架，因此這一政策對中歐關係具有正面影響的. • 國. ㈻. 潛質。. 本文的最後兩個研究問題「一帶一路將帶給歐洲怎樣的風險與利益？」與「歐盟應如何. •. 應對一帶一路？」是相互關聯的。通過對一帶一路將帶來的風險與利益的分析，筆者對中歐. sit. y. Nat. 雙方如何更有效地推進一帶一路提出了一些政策建議，其中重點分析了歐盟領導人如何與中. io. 規範的遵守、以及幫助中國保持一帶一路所經之地的穩定。. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. 方開展合作，並認為歐盟必須回應中國的倡議，與之合作，確保中歐雙方實現共贏、對國際. i Un. v. 6.

(7) TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 9 1.1 Research Methodology ........................................................................................................... 11 1.1.1 Theoretical Framework: Constructivism ........................................................................... 11 1.1.2 Research Approach ............................................................................................................ 12 1.1.3 Data and Sources ............................................................................................................... 15 1.1.4 Ethical Considerations ....................................................................................................... 15 1.1.5 Chapter Arrangement ........................................................................................................ 16 1.1.6 Research Limitations and Contributions ........................................................................... 18 2. China-EU Relations and BRI: An Overview .............................................................................. 20 2.1 China-EU Relations ................................................................................................................ 20. 政治大. 2.2 The Belt and Road Initiative................................................................................................. 31. 立. 3. Literature Review on the Study of Bri ........................................................................................ 38. • 國. ㈻. 3.1 China-EU Relations ................................................................................................................ 38 3.2 One Belt One Road and Its Impact on Europe ........................................................................ 42. •. 3.2.1 Comparison of Chinese and European Perspectives ......................................................... 43 3.3 Research Purposes and Uniqueness ........................................................................................ 50. sit. y. Nat. 4. Constructivism and the Obstacles to Deepening the China-EU Partnership .............................. 52. io. er. 4.1 Constructivism ........................................................................................................................ 52 4.2 Osbtacles to the Development of the China-EU Partnership .................................................. 55. n. al. i Un. v. 4.2.1 European Union's Values and Identities ............................................................................ 57. Ch. engchi. 4.2.2 China's Values and Identities............................................................................................. 58 4.2.3 Differences in Identity and Their Impact .......................................................................... 59 4.3 Solutions to the Obstacles ....................................................................................................... 60 5. EU-China Cultural and People-to-People Relations ................................................................... 63 5.1 Culture..................................................................................................................................... 64 5.2 Cultural Relations ................................................................................................................... 65 5.2.1 Cultural Diplomacy and Soft Power.................................................................................. 65 5.2.2 EU-China Cultural and People-to-People Relations ......................................................... 71 5.3 Final Remarks ......................................................................................................................... 76 6. Policy Implications for Bri and EU-China Cultural Relationship............................................... 78 6.1 Improving the China-EU Cultural Relations .......................................................................... 78 6.1.1 The Solution to the Obstacles ............................................................................................ 79 7.

(8) 6.1.2 Role of BRI........................................................................................................................ 81 6.2 Policy Suggestions .................................................................................................................. 86 6.2.1 Risks and Benefits for the Eu ............................................................................................ 87 6.2.2 Eu's Response to Bri .......................................................................................................... 93 7. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 97 References ..................................................................................................................................... 103 Appendix 1: Official Text of "Vision and Actions" ...................................................................... 116 Appendix 2: Official Text of The Belt and Road Cultural Development Action Plan ................. 124 Appendix 3: Interview Participants ............................................................................................... 128 Appendix 4: Interview Consent Form ........................................................................................... 129. 政治大. LIST OF FIGURES AND CHARTS. 立. • 國. CHART 2: EU-China "Trade in Services" Statistics. ㈻. CHART 1: EU-China "Trade in Goods" Statistics. CHART 6: China FDI Transactions to Europe, by Industry. 24 24. io. sit. Nat. CHART 5: EU FDI Transactions to China, by Country of Origin. er. CHART 7: China FDI Transactions to Europe, by Recipient Country. 22. •. CHART 4: EU FDI Transactions to China, by Industry. 22. y. CHART 3: European Trade Flows and Balance about the Total Goods Traded with China. 21. n. a l Economic Belt" and "21st Century i v Maritime Silk Road" MAP 1: Routes of the "New Silk Road n Ch engchi U. 25 25 33. 8.

(9) 1. INTRODUCTION It is in human nature to interact with each other. Throughout history, people have always traveled and exchanged goods, skills and ideas with each other. The mix of languages and dialects, spices and fabrics, adventures and discoveries, caravans and camels, cultural exchanges and civilizations encounters, exotic and romantic imaginary, these are the feelings and ideas everybody recalls when thinking about the Silk Road. China is harking back to these emotions to make more appealing "the most significant and far-reaching initiative that it has ever put forward" (Winter, 2016): the New Silk Roads (BRI or OBOR)1. The official purpose of Beijing is not only to connect the "Middle Country" to Europe, and to restore the splendor and great position as the centre of. 政治大. civilization, that the Eurasian continent enjoyed in the past; but also to develop transportation. 立. infrastructure, facilitate economic development, increase trade, and deepen the cultural exchanges. • 國. ㈻. in Eurasia and beyond.. •. In particular, OBOR (acronym of One Belt One Road, 一帶一路) can be considered as the. sit. y. Nat. greatest Chinese foreign policy since the "Reform and Opening Up" (改革開放) established by. io. al. er. Deng Xiaoping in 1979. Proposed in 2013 by President Xi Jinping as two different initiatives, the New Silk Roads represent the new proactive Chinese international strategy aimed at restoring the. n. iv n C h easnanginfluential Chinese position in the international system c h i Upower. Indeed, the Chinese officials. are advertising the China Dream (中國夢), aimed at pursuing the great "rejuvenation" of the nation, and at eventually regaining the past glory as well as obtaining a prominent role worldwide (Chand, 2016; Godehardt; 2016: 5). But, what is the European Union's role within Beijing's project? Europe is the final destination of both branches of the OBOR, as the practical realization of the "Go West" Chinese campaign. This means that BRI has enormous implication for the European Union and its economy in general, and for each European country in particular. But also that the EU plays an important role 1. The New Silk Roads is one of the names used to refer to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) proposed by Xi Jinping in 2013. OBOR (One Belt One Road) is the other acronym often used to indicate the initiative.. 9.

(10) in the implementation and future development of BRI. Nonetheless, BRI is a very controversial topic: many scholars and leaders fear the Chinese initiative for being the hegemonic plan of an assertive PRC trying to achieve superiority and eventually gain the position of a superpower. Other experts view it in much more positive terms, believing it is a peaceful initiative. No matter what the final outcome will be, both Chinese and Western scholars agree that OBOR has the ability to modify the existing global order. Therefore, the European Union in addition to participating in the New Silk Roads, needs to formulate a cohesive and definitive response: only from the inside will Brussels be able to define the rules, control the Chinese behavior, and obtain the promised benefits. However, Europe has been very slow and reluctant in responding. In fact, especially in the first two. 政治大. years since the launch of BRI, only few reports could be found in the media, and at the official level. 立. the project was not addressed properly. More recently the European academia has been dealing with. • 國. ㈻. the Chinese project by organizing various dedicated conferences and symposiums, and consequently more comprehensive research has started to appear, together with high-level meetings. •. between the two sides. This initial apparent lack of interest by European policy-makers might be. y. Nat. io. sit. explained by the relatively long distance between Europe and China, as well as by the political. n. al. er. mistrust toward the PRC. Another reason could be the immaturity of the initiative, which is only at. Ch. i Un. v. the first stage of its development and will need a long time to take shape. Most probably it is. engchi. because there are deeper and more influential barriers to the cooperation between Beijing and Brussels: what are these real obstacles? This is the puzzle that the author aims at resolving. Since most of the existing literature about the EU-China relations focuses on the material and short-term aspects of the partnership, such as economic and political interests, this thesis sets the ambitious objective of analyzing the cultural dimension of their relationships, in order to identify the real obstacles to a deeper China-EU cooperation and therefore to propose a long-lasting solution for the improvement of the overall relations. Moreover, since the current literature about the New Silk Roads focuses on the purely economic implications of the OBOR on European countries, the second purpose of this research is to investigate the effects of the initiative on the 10.

(11) cultural and people-to-people relations of the European Union with China. Building her arguments on the Constructivist theories, that favor a subjective approach to the International Relations based on culture and identities, the author of this dissertation will attempt to answer four research questions: 1. What are the obstacles to a deeper EU-China partnership? How to overcome them and improve the overall relations? 2. Which role does BRI play in the China-EU cultural relations? 3. What are the risks and benefits that BRI will bring to the EU? 4. How should the European Union respond to OBOR? 1.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. 立. 政治大. As the headline suggests, in this section the writer provides an outline of theoretical. • 國. ㈻. framework, the research strategy and method, and the sources and data employed. It includes also a. •. brief paragraph about ethical considerations, as well as a section containing the outline of the thesis. y. sit. io. n. al. er. contributions.. Nat. and the chapters' description. Finally, the last paragraph will discuss the research limitations and. i Un. 1.1.1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: CONSTRUCTIVISM. Ch. engchi. v. This research will be based on the assumptions of the constructivist school of thought of the International Relations, because it can better explain the political and cultural interactions between countries that have completely different cultural and political backgrounds, as in the case of the European countries and China. Constructivism is able to provide a comprehensive interpretation of the Sino European relations from a multifaceted point of view. Liberalism and Realism better explain material issues of the IR; but culture, perceptions and norms are intrinsic to a nation and can influence the political decisions as well as the cultural cooperation among populations. Constructivism is able to take into consideration these fundamental aspects of the China-EU relations and provide a thorough answer to the research questions. Indeed, it is believed that the 11.

(12) difficulties in reaching a deeper cooperation among the two parties are caused by dissimilarities in values and norms. Generally, constructivism attaches importance to "ideas, identity, and interaction in the international system, revealing how the human world is not simply given and/or natural but that, on the contrary, the human world is one of artifice; that it is constructed through the actions of the actors themselves" (Kratochwil, 2001:17). According to constructivism, the world is social: actions, beliefs, "normative or ideational structures", identities are all important and are able to influence the international relations, because human interactions are "inherently social". "We create the world we live in, and it influences us as well" (Agius, 2013:88). In agreement with this approach, "shared. 政治大. norms, values, and beliefs can explain much more than rationalist theorizing. The central point is. 立. that we construct the world according to the meaning we give it" (Agius, 2013:85). A practical. • 國. ㈻. example is provided by the idea proposed by Wendt (1992) that "anarchy is what states make of it", suggesting that anarchy is not a natural characteristic of the international system.. • sit. y. Nat. 1.1.2 RESEARCH APPROACH. io. al. er. The most appropriate research method for this thesis is considered to be the qualitative approach, in the form of interviews and content analysis. Given the lack of sources, in order to. n. iv n C h e n gto chearh itheUopinions of experts on the topic. Thus, answer the research questions, it will be necessary the research method will take the form of semi-structured open-ended questions posed to a number of scholars from Europe and representatives of the EU (the list of interviews is provided in the Appendix 3). The interviews with European experts are considered as a fundamental part of this research because: firstly the research focuses on the European perspective; secondly it wants to collect more insight about the European opinions on OBOR implementation. The Chinese reports are all very clear and rich of details, whereas the European ones do not contain explicit considerations about the role of the EU and the New Silk Roads effect on the Sino European relations. Since January the researcher started an internship at the Representative Office of the 12.

(13) European Union, this made it easier to contact European scholars and officials. Five of the seven interviews consisted in a video-call usually lasting around one hour, whereas two of them were in a written format; the questions were all open-ended, allowing the interviewees to answer freely and exhaustively. The interviewees were also able to introduce new issues, without the constraints of the structured interviews used in surveys and other quantitative methods. In other words, open-ended questions allowed the interviewer to better understand the ideas and perspectives of the participants. Indeed, the understanding of the phenomenon or situation analyzed can be considered "valid if the informant is part of the problem area and if he/she is given the opportunity to speak freely according to his/her own knowledge structure" and perspectives (Stenbacka, 2001:551). The. 政治大. interview method was also useful not only to overcome the problem of lack of sources, but also to. 立. make this research more original by providing new insights, ideas and viewpoints. Generally, in the. • 國. ㈻. field of social sciences interviews are customarily conducted as a way of collecting knowledge about any kind of issue or phenomena (Alvesson, 2011).. •. Furthermore, the researcher also employed the content analysis method, which consists of. y. Nat. io. sit. interpreting what other scholars suggest in their researches, written works or during their speeches. n. al. er. at conferences. This means that this research is based on the strategy focused on language and. Ch. i Un. v. communication, which typically involves discourse analysis and textual analysis, through which. engchi. speech events, text and interactions are recorded and then analyzed (Marshall & Rossmann, 2011). Even if the existing references are not truly abundant, the smallest amount of information can contain interesting and precious knowledge, which should not be overlooked. But, what is qualitative research? Why should this thesis be based on a qualitative approach? This section is aimed at providing a justification for the choice of applying a qualitative research method. In recent years, the value and prestige of qualitative inquiry have risen in many social science fields, because it allows the researcher to examine social phenomena, people's experiences, with a particular set of interactive and humanistic methods, such as interviews, "focus group discussions, observation, content analysis, visual methods, and life histories or biographies". The 13.

(14) peculiar feature of qualitative research is that it takes place in the real world, it thus permits the researcher to identify issues from the perspective of the participants of the study, while the researcher needs to be able to listen to people, as well as be "open-minded, curious, empathic" (Rossmann & Marshall, 2011:1-4; Hennink, Hutter, & Bailey, 2011: 8-10; Taylor, Bogdan, & DeVault, 2016: 7-8). Moreover, the qualitative method is very useful in the case in which the author has to deal with the unavailability or lack of sufficient data, as in this research. It represents an "attractive and fruitful way of doing research", because it is able to interpret the feelings and perspectives of the people in a study, as well as it produces new insights into existing or emerging concepts,. 政治大. phenomena or policies. It is necessary to employ qualitative research for the analysis of non-. 立. numeric data, and for situations characterized by a multiplicity of interpretations, according to the. • 國. ㈻. different perspectives involved. This thesis could also be considered as a multicultural research, since it aims at comparing and analyzing different perspectives and ideas about OBOR, which are. •. shaped by the cultural background of the interviewees and other authors analyzed, since they all. y. Nat. io. sit. come from different countries (Yin, 2011: 6-14).. n. al. er. It is believed that qualitative research methods are the most appropriate research approach. Ch. i Un. v. for a thesis based on the constructivist principles. Indeed, qualitative researchers take into. engchi. consideration the environment, whose crucial aspects are: "social and physical settings, internalized notions of norms, traditions, roles, and values" (Marshall & Rossmann, 2011:90-92), which are the basis of constructivism. Qualitative interviews allow the researcher to understand the real, deepest ideas of the interviewee, his/her perspectives and feelings; while it does not limit the participants to single-word answers, instead they can use their own words to discuss the topic (Yin, 2011). Finally, when organizing research it is necessary to assess its quality and the validity of its outcome. The validity issue is easily resolved in a qualitative research, because in the case of interviews, the communication between researcher and interviewee leads to a situation that increases the chances of "getting good data, i.e. data providing the information needed according to 14.

(15) the purpose. This means that the meaning of a statement can be controlled and issues can be clarified and discussed from different angles" (Stenbacka, 2001:551,552). On the contrary, "quantitative methods, it can be argued, sacrifice quality of information to standardization" (Sykes,1991:10). 1.1.3 DATA AND SOURCES As already explained in the previous section, the author will base her arguments on the written words and speeches of scholars who are currently conducting research on OBOR and on EU-China relations, by employing content analysis. In order to enhance the quality and amount of information, the writer will interview various European experts, because the data available at. 治政 present is not sufficient to answer the research questions, since大 the research to date are mostly based 立 on economic issues.. • 國. ㈻. The sources from which the information will be gathered will be of two types: primary and. •. secondary. The former includes interviews, official statements, and conference scripts; whereas the. sit. y. Nat. latter includes not only newspaper articles, but also papers, research, reports, and theses published. io. n. al. er. by think tanks and academic periodicals in the IR field. 1.1.4 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. To avoid any negative or ethical issue from arising, all the interviewees were asked to provide their written acceptance regarding their participation in the research, through a signed Consent Form (Appendix 4). The aim of this letter was to reassure participants that their participation in the research was voluntary and that they were free to withdraw from it at any point and for any reason. Since these interviews were not in the habitual form of a survey, but their purpose is to enhance the quality and variety of the information provided in the thesis, the author is honored to be able to quote the answers of those participants who agreed. In the case they were not willing to be cited, the author protected their anonymity, and the confidentiality of their answers. Furthermore, participants were fully informed regarding the objectives of the study, and also 15.

(16) reassured that their answers were used only for the academic purposes of this particular research. Finally, the researcher, with the help of the seven enthusiastic and thoughtful interviewees, managed to create and maintain a climate of comfort. 1.1.5 CHAPTER ARRANGEMENT This section provides the outline of the thesis, together with a short summary of the main contents of each chapter. This dissertation is composed of seven chapters, including the introduction and conclusion. The order of the chapters was carefully planned to make it easier for the reader to follow each step of the research in an ordinate and logical way. In fact, the design of the thesis is based on the research questions, which need to be addressed in the correct order since their answers,. 治政大questions. and specially the last one, depend on the response of the previous 立. The introduction is followed by the "China-EU relations and BRI: an overview ", which can. • 國. ㈻. be considered as the background chapter. It is divided into two sections, for the two main topics of. •. the research: the EU-China relations and BRI's role. The first section provides an historical. sit. y. Nat. overview of the Beijing-Brussels relations, from the establishment of the diplomatic relations until. io. al. Road Initiative and its principal features.. er. the most recent developments. Whereas the second section contains the description of Belt and. n. iv n C U is also divided into two sections, h e n greview, The third chapter consists in the literature c h i which. following the logic of the previous chapter. The first paragraph addresses the written works about the China-EU relations; whereas the second one compares the Chinese and the European views about OBOR, and successively it provides a comparison between the liberalist and realist standpoints concerning the New Silk Roads, as interpretation of the previously analyzed viewpoints. The fourth chapter is titled "Constructivism and the obstacles to deepening the china-EU partnership", and is composed of three sections. The first one is aimed at explaining the theories of constructivism, that are applied in the following sections and chapters, in order to answer the research questions. The second section provides an extensive analysis of what this thesis considers 16.

(17) as real obstacles to the further development of the Brussels-Beijing relations, namely the difference in non-material aspects such as identities, cultures, values and interests. The third part of the chapter, by borrowing the constructivism theories, suggests the best way to overcome the obstacles and enhance the relations between the two sides. "EU-China cultural and people-to-people relations" is the fifth chapter, and as revealed by its title, it focuses on cultural interactions. This chapter is highly informative, since it first provides the definitions for culture, cultural diplomacy and soft power: the three keywords of the chapter. Then it addresses the cultural diplomacy of the EU and the PRC separately, and afterwards it offers the description of their bilateral cultural relations. Even if this chapter does not directly answer any. 政治大. of the research questions, it is fundamental for the researcher and the reader to gain the knowledge. 立. required in order to provide correct responses in the following chapters.. • 國. ㈻. The sixth chapter, "Policy implications for BRI and EU-China cultural relationship", addresses all the four research questions, providing the answers in the two big sections that. •. compose the chapter. The first section contains the answers to the first two questions. Therefore it. y. Nat. io. sit. provides the possible solutions for an improved partnership between the two powers, and then it. n. al. er. focuses on the implications of BRI regarding the China-EU cultural relations. The second macro. Ch. i Un. v. section of the chapter is aimed at responding to the last two research questions. This second section. engchi. first analyses the risks and challenges that both China and the European Union will have to face while implementing the New Silk Roads initiative, and compares them to the advantages and benefits that One Belt One Road will bring to the EU and its member states. Finally it attempts to offer some policy suggestions to European leaders on how to deal with BRI, and also some advices to the Chinese policy makers and scholars on how to enhance the implementation of their initiative. Lastly, the thesis ends with the "Conclusions", which contains a comprehensive and final summary of the research. After rehashing the puzzle, it addresses each question providing a simple and direct answer.. 17.

(18) 1.1.6 RESEARCH LIMITATIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS One Belt One Road is a relatively new, long-term initiative, which is still at the implementation phase, therefore it is difficult to foresee its future outcomes and implications. Moreover, in Europe it is still almost unknown among the population, and only in the last year did scholars from different EU countries and think tanks started conducting deeper research on the topic. Also the majority of the research and debate about Sino Cultural relations still overlook the cultural and people to people exchanges. For these reasons, the existing literature is not sufficient to answer all the questions that could be raised about these mutually related topics. On the other hand, the brand-new books that have been published lately are very hard to retrieve, or very expensive. Being. 政治大. this research a Master thesis, with a very limited budget, the author has to deal with some financial. 立. and time limitations. For this reason, the best way to obtain more data and information will be by. • 國. ㈻. conducting interviews, as previously described.. This thesis is believed to be useful as a basis for further, deeper research that will be. •. conducted when the implementation of the New Silk Roads initiative reaches a more developed. y. Nat. io. sit. stage. It is the first thesis that compares the contemporary Chinese and European perspectives and. n. al. er. values; thus, arguably, it can provide precious references for research, not only about the New Silk. Ch. i Un. v. Roads, but also about other aspects of the Sino European relations. The practicality of this research. engchi. will be the presence of both a theoretical framework and of practical policy suggestions. The ambitious objective of this research is to provide a new interpretation of BRI based on constructivism, as well as its implications on the EU-China cultural relations, a fundamental aspect of Beijing and Brussels relations as a whole. Finally, the coursework and research conducted for the classes taken in the field of International Relations have provided the writer with a strong academic base for the current research. Moreover, the author's experience as intern at the European Union Representative Office in Taipei is directly relevant to this research. The internship provided the researcher with the best opportunity to obtain more and exclusive material and contacts. In addition the author gained a new viewpoint and deeper understanding of the role and position of the 18.

(19) European Union in relation with Taiwan and China, and of its work of cultural promotion in foreign countries. In final analysis, the final purpose of this research is to provide a solution to the obstacles to a deeper and more efficient EU-China partnership, considering BRI as a valuable framework that could ease the people to people and cultural interchanges and dialogues between the two sides. Indeed, despite uncertainties and concerns, Europe cannot "miss the train" (Arduino, 2016). Therefore, it is important to conduct a deep research on the topic and provide some effective policy suggestions. The author's research interests are the foreign policy of the People's Republic of China, the. 政治大. European Union, and the cultural dimension of the international relations. The writer started. 立. researching about One Belt One Road initiative in the spring of 2015, while doing an internship at. • 國. ㈻. the Consulate General of Italy in Chongqing, China. Chongqing being one of the starting points of "The Belt" part of the initiative, the Consulate's employees were participating in many activities to. •. promote BRI. However, it was only during the first semester studying as a graduate student at. y. Nat. n. al. Ch. engchi. er. io. author's three research interests in the same thesis took shape.. sit. IMPIS that the interest for the Chinese initiative became stronger and finally the idea of merging the. i Un. v. 19.

(20) 2. CHINA-EU RELATIONS AND BRI: AN OVERVIEW Before adventuring ourselves into the entangled and uncertain implications of OBOR on the European Union and its member states, as well as its relations with China, it is necessary to firstly: understand the main characteristics of the Sino European relations, and secondly to have a general picture of the features and development of the One Belt One Road initiative. Therefore, this chapter is aimed at introducing the two main themes of this thesis: the history and the principal aspects of the relations between Europe and China, as well as the chronological development and the various components of the Chinese New Silk Roads.. 政治大 The relations between the European Union and the People's Republic of China (PRC) are 立. 2.1 CHINA-EU RELATIONS. • 國. ㈻. characterized by mostly economic interchanges. In fact, trade is the first driver of their bilateral. relations, and in particular of those between single European countries and the PRC. Indeed,. •. currently China is the EU's second largest trading partner behind the US, whereas the EU is China's. sit. y. Nat. first economic partner, having surpassed the United States and Japan in 2005 (Carter, 2005).. al. er. io. According to the European Commission, in 2014 the two countries were trading more than €1. v. n. billion each day, counting as "the second-largest economic cooperation in the world" (European. Ch. engchi. i Un. Commission, 2017a). Specifically, "EU imports from China are dominated by industrial and consumer goods: machinery and equipment, footwear and clothing, furniture and lamps, and toys. EU exports to China are concentrated on machinery and equipment, motor vehicles, aircraft, and chemicals". The specific statistics published by the European Commission are not all updated at 2016, therefore it is not possible to provide a consistent comparison for all the trade exchanges. Notably, in 2016 the bilateral trade in good reached €514,7 billion, whereas the trade in services was €63.7 billion in 2015, the trade in services is less flourishing than the goods one, but it actually has a considerable potential that should be exploited in the next years (European Commission, 2017a). Moreover, according to the researches conducted by the European Commission, the trade in 20.

(21) services and goods has remarkably increased in both imports and exports in 2015. China has become one of the fastest growing markets for European exports: in 2016 the export of goods to China reached €170.1 billion. The EU exports have nearly doubled in the past five years, contributing to rebalancing the relationship, indeed Beijing is Brussels' biggest supplier, with €344,47 billion worth of imported goods in 2016. This trade deficit does not exists in the trade of services, where EU is stronger than China, with €37.3 billion of exports, and €26.4 billion in 2015(European Commission, 2017a). The charts 1, 2, 3 below show in a graphic way the situation of the bilateral trade in recent years.. 立. 政治大. •. • 國. ㈻. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Chart 1: EU-China "Trade in Goods" Statistics (date of retrieval: 15/02/2017) (European Commission, 2017a). 21.

(22) 政治大立(European Commission, 2017a). Chart 2: EU-China "Trade in Services" Statistics (date of retrieval: 15/02/2017). •. • 國. ㈻. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Chart 3: European Trade Flows and Balance about the Total Goods Traded with China (2006-2016) (Source: European Commission-Directorate-General for Trade, 2017:3). 22.

(23) The investment flows is another field with an enormous untapped potential. The official statistics released by the PRC's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) show that the country "received $95.1 billion of non-financial utilized foreign direct investment (FDI) from January to September 2016" (Rhodium Group, 2016:2). Specifically, as shown in the Chart 4 below during the third quarter of 2016, the European FDI in China was dominated by the automotive sector, the semiconductor industry experienced a growth, whereas FDI in chemicals decreased dramatically. In this period the ranking of the investors has remained unaltered from the previous years, with Germany and France being the biggest investors, followed by Austria, which reached the top position thanks to AT&S's construction of a plant in Chongqing, as displayed in Chart 5 below. 政治大. (Rhodium Group, 2016:4). According to the "EU-China FDI Monitor - 3Q 2016" published by. 立. Rhodium Group, whose research was conducted for the European Commission under the China. • 國. ㈻. Observatory project, Beijing's investments in Europe were very strong in the third quarter of 2016, the amount was the double comparing to the previous quarter (Rhodium Group, 2016:6). The. •. sectors that have received the most Chinese capital are the industrial machinery, energy, transport,. y. Nat. io. sit. and ICT, whereas from the individual country point of view the top recipients are, in order,. n. al. er. Germany, Greece, Luxembourg and the UK, as represented in the Charts 6 and 7 (Rhodium Group, 2016:7).. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 23.

(24) 立. 政治大. • 國. ㈻. Chart 4: EU FDI Transactions to China, by Industry (Rhodium Group, 2016:4). •. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Chart 5: EU FDI Transactions to China, by Country of Origin (Rhodium Group, 2016:4). 24.

(25) 立. 政治大. • 國. (Rhodium Group, 2016:7). ㈻. Chart 6: China FDI Transactions to Europe, by Industry. •. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. Chart 7: China FDI Transactions to Europe, by Recipient Country. (Rhodium Group, 2016:7) 25.

(26) The diplomatic relations between the Europe and China were established officially in 1975, when the EU was still named EEC (European Economic Community). Three years later the representatives of the two parties signed the China-EC Trade Agreement, followed by the signature of the Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement in Brussels in 1985. In June 1989, the relations became very tense, when European countries imposed an arms embargo and a series of other sanctions on China, to punish the communist government for the suppression of students in Tiananmen Square by the People's Liberation Army (PLA). In 1994 the situation improved significantly when the two parties agreed to establish the China-EU political dialogue mechanism. As a consequence of the consent of the two sides to bring their relations to a deeper level, during the. 政治大. first China-EU Summit held in London in 1998, they "committed themselves to building a long-. 立. term, stable, and constructive partnership"; since then the Summits are held every year (Xinhua,. • 國. ㈻. 2015a; Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015a).. In 2003 the relations between Beijing and Brussels became more structured, thanks to a. •. series of common priorities and as a result of the crisis in transatlantic relations2, leading to the. y. Nat. io. sit. establishment of the EU-China Strategic Partnership on the 30th October of the same year,. n. al. er. recognizing each other as strategic partners (Wang & Song, 2016), as an attempt to bring the. Ch. i Un. v. commercial and economic relationship to a deeper political and security level (Maher, 2016). This. engchi. cooperation includes the areas of trade collaboration, environmental protection, innovation, research, education and international security (Palmieri & Celi, 2016). Within the Partnership, the two parties adopted three significant initiatives: firstly, the PRC would have become the biggest external partner in the European project Galileo3; secondly, some EU member states proposed to lift the army's embargo imposed on China in the far 1989 (but it was then rejected in 2005); thirdly, the. 2. The crisis between the United States and the European countries was caused by the European disagreement over the American war to Iraq and over Bush administration's foreign policy. (Casarini, October 2013) 3 "The Galileo program is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art global satellite navigation system, providing a highly accurate global positioning service under civilian control. The fully deployed system will consist of 30 satellites and the associated ground infrastructure. Galileo will provide Europe with independence in satellite navigation but will also be inter-operable with GPS and GLONASS, the two other global satellite navigation systems." (European Commission, 2016b). 26.

(27) People's Bank of China (PBOC) committed informally to diversify its holdings of foreign currency reserves, in order to benefit the Euro. During 2008, as a result of some European concerns over China's attitude towards human rights and economic competition, the Sino European relations became strained again, to the extent that some European leaders did not attend the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympic Games in August. However, in 2009 Brussels and Beijing 's relationship improved, together with the increase of the Chinese engagement in the European common currency (Casarini, 2013). The economic cooperation was stabilized and fortified by the establishment of the annual High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue, which was enriched" in 2010 by an enhanced political dialogue on both. 政治大. bilateral and global issues, the High-Level Strategic Dialogue. These two pillars were. 立. complemented in 2012 by a third one, with the establishment of the EU-China High-Level People-. • 國. ㈻. to-people Dialogue" (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015a). Moreover, after the success of the EU-China Year of Youth launched the previous year, in 2012 China and the EU. •. opened their Year of Intercultural Dialogue in order to strengthen the mutual understanding and. y. Nat. io. sit. cultural cooperation, and to enhance the sustainable cooperation. This initiative was aimed at "the. n. al. er. achievement of three main objectives:. Ch. i Un. v. •. promoting and strengthening intercultural dialogue;. •. establishing and developing structured and sustainable cooperation;. •. establishing sustainable policy dialogue on issues of common interest.. engchi. The initiative was designed not only to cover culture, but also related fields contributing to mutual understanding and exchanges between civil society, notably in the fields of education, research, multilingualism, and youth". In order to accomplish these objectives, 194 activities were organized throughout the 2012 (European Commission, 2016a). Furthermore, in the same year the two sides held also the Major's Forum, organized by the EU-China Urbanization Partnership to address governmental aspects of sustainable urban development (EU Commettee of the Regions, 2012). In the following year Beijing and Brussels jointly adopted the China-EU 2020 Strategic Agenda for 27.

(28) Cooperation, as the guideline of the bilateral relations until 2002, whose goals are: peace and security, prosperity, sustainable development and people-to-people exchange. Moreover, in the same year, they established the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with an economic focus, and complemented with three new dialogues on innovation, international development and sustainable tourism (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015a; Xinhua Agency, 2015a). That year, China started emphasizing the importance of its relations with the area of Europe closer to its own territory by launching the so-called 16+1 cooperation framework, which can be describe as the new Chinese regional diplomatic approach to the Central and Eastern European countries, and that have had a remarkable impact on the EU-China partnership. The aim of Beijing. 政治大. is to intensify and deepen the economic cooperation in the areas of infrastructure, high technologies,. 立. and green technologies, with eleven EU member states and five Balkan countries, namely: Albania,. • 國. ㈻. Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. Particular. •. focus is given to the fields of investments, transport, finance, science, education, and culture. The. y. Nat. io. sit. 16+1 Summits are held every year in a different member country. The first one took place in. n. al. er. Warsaw, Poland in 2012 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia, 2016; Kong, 2015).. Ch. i Un. v. In the following year, during the 16th EU-China Summit held on 21 November 2013, the. engchi. representatives of both sides announced the launch of negotiations of a comprehensive EU-China Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIA). It "will provide for progressive liberalization of investment and the elimination of restrictions for investors to each other's market. It will provide a simpler and more secure legal framework to investors of both sides by securing predictable long-term access to EU and Chinese markets respectively and providing for strong protection to investors and their investments" (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015a). In 2014 both the Chinese President Xi Jinping and the Premier Li Keqiang went on official visits to some European countries, respectively to France, Germany, Belgium and to the EU headquarters in Brussels; and to Spain, Germany and the UK, both with the objective of promoting 28.

(29) and deepening the economic relations and to present the new Chinese initiative One Belt One Road (China Central Television, 2014; BBC, 2014). During the visits, the two politicians "expressed hope for progress towards an eventual free-trade agreement between China and the EU" (Tiezzi, 2014). 2015 was an important year for the two economic powers, because they celebrated the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic relations. In this occasion "Mr. Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, Mr. Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, and Premier Li Keqiang of the State Council of the People's Republic of China met in Brussels for the 17th EUChina Summit", during which they agreed to reinforce the EU-China 2020 strategic agenda and "acknowledged that the relationship has made significant strides in the political, economic, social,. 政治大. environmental and cultural fields." In particular, "the EU supported China’s commitment to. 立. deepening reform comprehensively as well as China’s goal of building up a moderately prosperous. • 國. ㈻. society in all respects" (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015b), whereas "China expressed its support for the EU’s efforts in promoting growth, investment and regulatory reform. •. plans. Both sides stressed the importance they attach to the EU-China Comprehensive Strategic. y. Nat. io. sit. Partnership in promoting peace, prosperity and sustainable development for the benefit of all". They. n. al. er. are also working together on sustainable environmental governance, through the EU-China Water. Ch. i Un. v. Platform and the Cooperation Plan in Agriculture and Rural Development (Wiredgov website,. engchi. 2017). Furthermore, both sides affirmed their close interest in each other's main initiatives, namely the Juncker Plan4, also called Investment Plan for Europe (IPE), and the “Silk Road Economic Belt” and “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” (The Belt and Road Initiative). Following the suggestion of President Junker, leaders of both sides decided to support synergies between these initiatives, and directed the EU-China High-Level Economic and Trade Dialogue in September to develop practical avenues for mutually beneficial co-operation, including through a possible China-EU co-investment. 4. Juncker Plan is the European Commission's Investment Plan for Europe that takes the name from it President JeanClaude Juncker. The Plan aims at removing obstacles to investment, providing visibility and technical assistance to investment projects and making smarter use of new and existing financial resources (European Commission, a).. 29.

(30) vehicle"5 (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015b; Xinhua, 2015a). In the same year the EU and the PRC established the Connectivity Platform6 to further discuss the issues connected to the three new dialogues launched in 2013 (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2015a; Bersick, 2016). The milestone in this close collaboration is the Chinese investment of up to10 billion euro into the European Found for Strategic Investment (EFSI, part of IPE), a decision taken by Beijing and Brussels in April 2016, making China the first the largest and the first non-European investor in the Juncker Plan (Müller-Markus, 2016; Interviews n°2 and 3, February 2017). Finally, the 18th bilateral Summit was held on the 12th and 13th June 2016 in Beijing, during which both sides expressed their concerns over the European problem of overproduction of steel,. 政治大. therefore they agreed to create a bilateral working group on steel; moreover they addressed the. 立. European decision about the Chinese Market Economy Status (MES)7. On the second day of the. • 國. ㈻. Summit, "the president Junker also spoke at the EU-China Business Summit where he stressed that the ongoing reforms in both China and Europe create mutual opportunities including with regards to. •. investment. He concluded by calling for the deepening of the EU-China partnership - "it is on this. y. Nat. io. sit. condition," he said, "that it will become the engine of prosperity and stability for both sets but also. n. al. er. for the world economy". "EU-China Summit comes just a few weeks after the European. Ch. i Un. v. Commission and the High Representative adopted a Joint Communication on elements for a new. engchi. EU strategy on China, and offered the opportunity to discuss at the highest level on issues related to bilateral EU-China political and economic relations, addressing global challenges, and regional and international issues" (European Commission, 2016c). Currently the EU policy towards China is "defined by the 'Elements for a new EU Strategy on China' and together with the 'Council Conclusions EU Strategy on China', form the EU Strategy on China", which states that. 5. For more information about the 17th EU-China Summit, please visit the webpage http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/meetings/international-summit/2015/06/29/ 6 The EU-China Connectivity Platform will be further described in the following section (II) of this chapter. 7 Specifically, when China joined the WTO (World Trade Organization) in 2001, it was given a 15-years transition period to make economic reforms in order to gain recognition as a market economy by the other members (Godement, June 2016).. 30.

(31) "the EU's engagement with China will be principled, practical and pragmatic, staying true to its interests and values. The EU's approach is based on a positive agenda of partnership coupled with the constructive management of differences. The strategy directs the EU to find practical ways to engage China in its reform process so as to achieve mutual benefits in political, economic, trade and investment, social, environmental, and other relations" (Delegation of the European Union to China, 2016c). Moreover the strategy declares that in line with the two sides' UN and G20 responsibilities, they "should promote global public goods, sustainable development, and international security, and. 政治大. advance respect for the rule of law and human rights within China and internationally" (Delegation. 立. 2.2 THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE. ㈻. • 國. of the European Union to China, 2016c).. •. As explained previously, this section briefly presents the history, goals and main. sit. y. Nat. characteristics of the Chinese "The Belt and Road Initiative". It subsequently introduces the new. io. the development of the initiative.. al. er. financial and educational Institutions that were established in order to create a multilevel support for. n. iv n C The Silk Road Economic Belt andhthe e n21st-century g c h i UMaritime Silk Road, whose Chinese. official name is 絲綢之路經濟帶和 21 世紀海上絲綢之路 (shortened into 一帶一路), is a recent Chinese development strategy and framework. In the beginning its English official name was One Belt, One Road (abbreviated with the acronym OBOR), but in the end of 2016 it was modified to The Belt and Road Initiative8 (BRI) in order to avoid the emphasis on the word "one" as idea of closeness (interview n°5, April 2017), moreover it is often referred to also with the name New Silk Roads, this thesis will use the three versions as all of them are commonly used and recognizable. The project consists of two different initiatives, the "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st 8. The name is used in the official webpage of the initiative, within the website of the State Council of the People's Republic of China: http://english.gov.cn/beltAndRoad/. 31.

(32) Century Maritime Silk Road", that were proposed separately by the Chinese President XI Jinping during his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013. On the 28th of March 2015 the Chinese Government released an official document displaying the major principles, priorities and goals of the initiatives, titled "Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road"9 (Vision & Actions) (Zhang Y. , 2015). The official document was issued by the National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, with State Council authorization. In particular, as shown in Map 1 below, the New Silk Road Economic Belt's main objective is to link China with Europe through Central and Western Asia, and Russia. On the other hand, the 21st. 政治大. Century Maritime Silk Road is aimed at connecting China with Southeast Asian countries, Asia,. 立. Africa, Europe, and, on a long term prospective with South America; from China's coast through. • 國. ㈻. the South China Sea, the South Pacific following one route, and the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea through the other one. These multiple economic and financial corridors. •. are aimed at connecting directly and indirectly more than 60 countries (He, 2015). None of the land-. y. Nat. io. sit. based and the maritime roads follow any clear geographical routes, they are a virtual roadmap that. n. al. er. will lead China to further integrate into the world economy and strengthen its influence in these. Ch. i Un. v. regions (Ma, 2015; Vision and Actions on Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-. engchi. Century Maritime Silk Road, 2015). OBOR is an idea inspired by the impact and strategic role that the original Silk Road played in the ancient world. Beijing is trying to make its new project more appealing by reconnecting it to the romantic and exotic idea of the old Silk routes that connected both commercially and culturally the West and the "Middle Kingdom".. 9. The complete text of "Vision and Actions" is provided in the Appendix 1.. 32.

(33) 立. 政治大. • 國. ㈻. •. Map 1: Routes of the "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road"10. y. Nat. io. sit. The PRC has already started implementing the network of routes, both on the land and on. n. al. er. the sea: the "New Silk Road Economic Belt" connects different lines that are already working, such. Ch. i Un. v. as the Chongqing-Duisburg, the Chengdu-Lodz, the Lodz-Praag, the Zhengzhou-Hamburg-. engchi. Duisburg, the Suzhou-Warsaw, the Yiwu-Madrid, the Wuhan-Hamburg (Arduino, 2014; Leung, 2015); whereas from the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road" perspective, China has been engaged in the Piraeus Port, in Greece, where the national shipping company COSCO has bought the Pier Two through a leasing for 35 years (Harriet, 2010; van der Putten & Meijnders, 2015). Moreover, as soon as "all the projects will be completed the high-speed rail connection will extend all the way from Piraeus to Budapest" (Casarini, 2015:4).. 10. Map retrieved from the website of the Xinhua Finance Agency. The map shows in red the route of the "New Silk Road Economic Belt" and the cities that are included in the initiative; whereas the blue line indicates the route and the cities of the "21st Century Maritime Silk Road".. 33.

(34) The initiative 一帶一路 is considered, especially by its promoters, to be a great occasion for cooperation, regional on the short term and global on the long term. In fact, it incorporates the "idea of building a new network of global partnerships, including both bilateral and multilateral cooperation in political, economic, cultural and other fields. It emphasizes the adaptability of development strategies in China and other participating nations in order to produce benefits that are shared by all in an economic “win-win” outcome" (He, 2015). This development strategy aims to build “five connectivities”11, called in Chinese 五通 (Wutong), in order to establish a "community" of countries, namely: policy consultation, infrastructure connectivity, free trade, free circulation of local currencies, and people-to-people exchange (He, 2015; Vision and Actions on. 政治大. Jointly Building Silk Road Economic Belt and 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, 2015). Likewise,. 立. the Vision & Actions defines the "Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence" as fundamental values. • 國. ㈻. upheld by OBOR, they consist in:. •. 1. "mutual respect for each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity";. io. 4. "equality and mutual benefit";. al. iv n C "peaceful co-existence" (Vision and Actions Building Silk Road Economic Belt and h e nong Jointly chi U. n. 5.. er. 3. "non-interference in each other's internal affairs";. sit. y. Nat. 2. "mutual non-aggression";. 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road, 2015; Müller-Markus, 2016; Lim, Chan, Tseng, & Lim, 2016: 114). Furthermore, Beijing considers the Belt and the Road as an effective way to reduce the development gap between the Eastern and Western regions of the country, by attracting foreign investments in the less dynamic regions of Western China (Zhang Y. , 2015).. 11. "Connectivity has become a new buzzword in global affairs. Though no clear definition currently exists, regional and global discussions have begun to focus on the question of how to increase the degree and quality of interaction amongst countries and people by envisioning and creating the ideational and practical conditions for a more efficient and effective flow of goods, investments, services and information." (Bersick, 2016). 34.

(35) The two major priorities of the strategy are to build infrastructures, namely roads and railways, and to stimulate resource development by means of electricity and gas projects. Currently the focus is on the railway aspect which is considered to have many advantages12: it is a more costeffective and faster means of shipping goods, compared to the very expensive air freight and the slow sea freight (Maverick, 2016; Arduino, 2014; Puls, 2015). To reach this scope, it is necessary to obtain financial resources. For this reason, China has established a few financial institutions, which have the ability to rival the Washington-based IMF and World Bank: the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), the BRICS New Development Bank (BNDB), the Silk Road Fund and the financing institution of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) (Zhang Y. , 2015; Bremmer, 2015).. 立. 政治大. This paragraph will briefly analyze them. The AIIB "is a multilateral development bank. • 國. ㈻. (MDB)" proposed by the Government of the PRC in 2013, and it is focused "on the development of infrastructure and other productive sectors in Asia, including energy and power, transportation and. •. telecommunications, rural infrastructure and agriculture development, water supply and sanitation,. y. Nat. io. sit. environmental protection, urban development and logistics, etc." (AIIB website). It was founded in. n. al. er. October 2014, when the 22 member states signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), and. Ch. i Un. v. Beijing was selected to host the headquarters of the bank. Subsequently the participants started the. engchi. process of Chief Negotiators Meeting (CNM) to negotiate the AIIB's Articles of Agreement (the Articles); in the meanwhile the number of Prospective Founding Members had increased to 57 countries, whose representatives signed the Articles between June 29, 2015 and December 31, 2015 and finally entered into force on December 25, 2015 (AIIB website). After the UK chancellor, George Osborne, announced that the Great Britain would join the Chinese "answer to the World Bank" in March 2015, many of other European countries, such as Germany, France and Italy,. 12. Railway shipping has various advantages: it is cheaper and more environmentally friendly that the air freight, since it produces a smaller carbon footprint than the air transport; it is faster than the sea shipping because it cuts the transit times of the 50% (30 to 40 days via the seas corresponds to 14 to 18 days rail transit time); finally, it is arguably more secure, because the land route avoids the chokepoint of the Malacca Strait (Arduino, 2014; Maverick, 2016; Puls, 2015).. 35.

(36) finally decided to follow the British example and become Prospective Founding Members (Anderlini, 2015). Japan and the US are among the major world economies that haven't joined the AIIB. Interestingly, the bank has signed non-binding Memorandum of Understanding with both the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the European Investment Bank (AIIB website). The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly known as BRICS Development Bank, is a MDB founded by the BRICS countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, "with an objective of funding infrastructure projects in the developing countries and" to "meet the aspirations of millions through sustainable development" (NDB website). The bank was established after its treaty was signed by the five members in July 2014 and entered into force in July 2015,. 政治大. "with an initial authorized capital of $100 billion, and with initial subscribed capital of $50 billion,. 立. equally shared among the five members". The NDB headquarters is situated in Shanghai, China. • 國. ㈻. (NDB website; Korablinov, 2014). The Silk Road Fund was launched in Beijing on the 29th of December 2014, with the main objective of providing "investment and financial support for trade. •. and economic cooperation and connectivity under the framework of the" OBOR, through the. y. Nat. io. sit. participation of both Chinese and foreign enterprises and financial institutions (Silk Road Fund. n. al. er. website). In September 2015 The Silk Road Fund and the European Fund for Strategic Investments. Ch. i Un. v. (EFSI) established a joint working group (Bersick, 2016). Finally, the Shanghai Cooperation. engchi. Organization (acronym SCO), known also as the Shanghai Pact, is an Eurasian political, economic and military organization, founded by the PRC, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan on 15th June 2001 (SCO website). Its Secretary General announced that the Fund will actively engage in the New Silk Road initiative, in order to "enhance its role in regional economic development" (Wang Y. , 2016a). Finally, from the European perspective, on the 28th September 2015, during the High Level Economic and Trade Dialogue held in Beijing, the European Commission and the Chinese government "signed a Memorandum of Understanding on the EU-China Connectivity Platform to enhance synergies between" the BRI and the European "connectivity initiatives such as the Trans36.

(37) European Transport Network policy" (European Commission, 2015a). The Platform, described as the "EU's most advanced response" to the Chinese initiative (Montesano & Okano-Heijmans, 2016:1), "will promote cooperation in areas such as infrastructure, equipment, technologies and standards. This will create multiple business opportunities and promote employment, growth and development for both sides, and it will be done in cooperation" with the European Investment Bank (European Commission, 2015a). Moreover, in June 2016 a cooperation agreement, in the form of Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was reached between the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Silk Road Fund, in order to carry out joint projects for the implementation of OBOR (Reuters, 2016; Pyrkalo, 2016).. 立. 政治大. •. • 國. ㈻. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat al. Ch. engchi. i Un. v. 37.

(38) 3. LITERATURE REVIEW ON THE STUDY OF BRI The One Belt One Road is the new, impressive Chinese diplomatic initiative, which has attracted the attention of the world. Recently, especially from the year 2016, many scholars and journalists have written countless articles and papers about it and its impact on world politics. This chapter is aimed at analyzing the existing literature about the two main themes of this research: the diplomatic relations between China and the European Union; and the OBOR in general, as well as its impact on Europe. 3.1 CHINA-EU RELATIONS The relations between China and the European Union are very complex; this section is. 政治大 aimed at analyzing the current debates on some of the aspects that are interesting and significant for 立. • 國. ㈻. this research. Since diplomatic relations are always undergoing changes, the articles that have been. selected are all very recent, in particular most of the references have been published after Beijing. •. proposed the One Belt One Road, in 2013. Furthermore, it is important to remark that the China-EU. sit. y. Nat. relations are influenced by the United States, and especially by each side's relations with. al. er. io. Washington. It is also necessary to keep in mind that the EU-China relations cannot be only. v. n. understood simply as classical bilateral relations, but it is important to consider the various national. Ch. engchi. i Un. interests and the relations of China with each EU member state. In fact, as Mu Chunshan, a Beijingbased journalist, explains, the EU-China partnership can be classified into two dimensions: the continental level and the national level; the latter can be further divided into China-European Union relations and China-Euro zone relations (Mu, 2014). Since the relations between Beijing and Brussels are mostly economic, the majority of the current debates are focused on trade and finance issues, such as the future Bilateral Investment Trade (BIA), that the two parties have been negotiating since the 16th EU-China Summit held in 2013, which will probably lead to the distant but likely China-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA); and the decision that the EU must take on the Market Economic Status (MES) of the PRC. These 38.

歐盟與中國關係的文化面向： 從一帶一路的影響分析 - 政大學術集成

歐盟與中國關係的文化面向：從一帶一路的影響分析 - 政大學術集成