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Industrious ants, not dozing oxen must carry on China-EU partnership
By Jonathan Holslag |
February 4, 2009, Wednesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Year of the Ox promises to be an important window of opportunity for the EU and China to strengthen their partnership.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent visit to Europe was a necessary signal that China attaches importance to good relations with the EU.
He rightly stresses that in times of global uncertainty, Europe and China are deeply interdependent, and that this should allow us to work together in a pragmatic way.
Now the challenge is to convert ambitious intentions into ambitious policies. Regarding many issues like energy and monetary stability, China and the EU have joint interests. If we succeed to collaborate, this will make our partnership more mature and less prone to setbacks.
Different principles between the EU and China do not stem from a clash of civilizations: Asian versus Western values.
What we should recognize is the difference in development. Europe should encourage China to reform but respect that it will do so at its own pace.
But it is not only China that needs to reform. The EU too still has a long way to go to become the coherent and stable player that China has longed for since the 1980s.
Many of the EU's promised political and economic reforms have not been implemented. Competition between member states makes it impossible to formulate a common answer to the global economic crisis.
Many member states have neglected to invest in innovative growth and lack the political courage to modernize their markets.
Many of the current economic frictions are not the consequence of China's growth, but of Europe's failure to grow.
Carrying the EU-China partnership forward is thus a matter of shared responsibilities and hard work, for an ant on the work does more than a dozing ox.
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's recent visit to Europe was a necessary signal that China attaches importance to good relations with the EU.
He rightly stresses that in times of global uncertainty, Europe and China are deeply interdependent, and that this should allow us to work together in a pragmatic way.
Now the challenge is to convert ambitious intentions into ambitious policies. Regarding many issues like energy and monetary stability, China and the EU have joint interests. If we succeed to collaborate, this will make our partnership more mature and less prone to setbacks.
Different principles between the EU and China do not stem from a clash of civilizations: Asian versus Western values.
What we should recognize is the difference in development. Europe should encourage China to reform but respect that it will do so at its own pace.
But it is not only China that needs to reform. The EU too still has a long way to go to become the coherent and stable player that China has longed for since the 1980s.
Many of the EU's promised political and economic reforms have not been implemented. Competition between member states makes it impossible to formulate a common answer to the global economic crisis.
Many member states have neglected to invest in innovative growth and lack the political courage to modernize their markets.
Many of the current economic frictions are not the consequence of China's growth, but of Europe's failure to grow.
Carrying the EU-China partnership forward is thus a matter of shared responsibilities and hard work, for an ant on the work does more than a dozing ox.
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