Europe and China â An Emerging Relationship (CRS Report for Congress)
| Release Date |
June 21, 1996 |
| Report Number |
96-566 |
| Report Type |
Report |
| Authors |
Robert G. Sutter, Foreign Affairs and National Defense Division |
| Source Agency |
Congressional Research Service |
Summary:
Reflecting in large part European concern to become more closely linked with China's rising
market,
the 16-member European Union (EU) has been unusually active in the past few years in building ties
with Beijing. This report briefly reviews major policy pronouncements, high-level exchanges and
limited assistance programs, backed by EU-China trade flows that have more than tripled over the
past decade. Prospects for increased trade and economic interchange appear good, but broader
political and security interaction remains constrained by the relatively low priority Beijing assigns
to relations with Europe, organizational and institutional limitations in the EU and among its
members, and divergence in EU-Chinese views on the importance of conformity to internationally
accepted norms regrading trade practices, human rights, proliferation, the use of military force and
other matters.
The report notes that U.S. policy concerns about the emerging European-Chinese relationship
are mixed. U.S. policy makers sometimes complain that the combination of EU eagerness to trade
with China and its relatively low-keyed posture on human rights, use of force, trade practices and
other disputes with China complicates more forthright U.S. efforts to press China to conform better
to these internationally accepted norms. Including information up to mid-1996, this report will not
be updated.
