Page 15 - Azerbaijan State University of Economics

Fabio Massimo Parenti, Shi Chen: EU-China Relations in the Framework of the BRI a Critical
Analysis of EU Regulations on Trade and Investments

and Thucydides Trap, critics argue that the rising power—China will finally
challenge the existing dominant power—the United States and end up into conflicts
(Zoellick, 2013). However, according to the Kindleberger Trap, the stability in the
international system requires a country to take the leadership role (Kirshner, 1997).
In the current stage China is regarded as the rising power to provide more public
goods in the fields where the US retreats from. One example on how Kindleberger
Trap worked is the chaos of world in the early stage of 20th century when Britain
lost its global hegemony and the US did not take over the leading position so that
World War I and the great decline occurred. The dilemma China faces is that the
lack of transparency on BRI could be a major threat from the perspective of some
countries while China would be regarded as an irresponsible international actor if it
does not provide ‘appropriate’ solutions for global governance. The point is that
China would be more welcomed to follow the existing international orders instead of
introducing new mechanisms. It has been repeatedly emphasized that BRI is
intended to construct a community of shared destiny for all humankind. It could help
find a way of co-existence by different ideologies. There are doubts that China is
defining common destiny based on its own interests. Facing the strong distrust,
China currently has few approaches to prove itself evidently credible on building a
win-win relationship. The tension between the US and China in 2018 clearly shows
the interpretation from the American perspective of BRI and other Chinese policies,
strategies or initiatives including China 2025 is more about political considerations,
which defines China as a revisionist power with ambitions to revise the current
international orders. The trade frictions and cases with Chinese IT manufactures and
providers ZTE and Huawei have brought great negative impacts on bilateral relations
with China and the US. It is possible that EU could keep in step with the US on
certain issues, which could set obstacles for the promotion of BRI in Europe.
However, it is still possible that mutual understanding could be achieved with the
development of BRI. Pre-judging BRI as China’s tool of economic invasion would
be no help for economic cooperation for both China and EU. While the BRI is an
initiative a waiting for constructive partners, transparency can be improved by direct
participating in the discussions of proposals.

Under the distrust, it is to great importance that Europe and China promote BRI
focusing on common goals including developing markets in poor areas, reducing
geopolitical tensions and promoting mutual understanding. In relation to the positive
and negative of EU approach towards China in defining terms of trade, the Chinese
innovative investments on “air connections” such as Luxemburg-Zhengzhou and
Xian-Amsterdam and e-commerce platforms including Alipay could match common
strategic goals. While approaching European cities and markets, Chinese firms and

15