Stuck between a Rock and a Hard Place : Europe, the EU and the New Chinese Century

The European relationship with China (People’s Republic of China, PRC) today is one of cooperation through trade and global security initiatives such as the Iran Nuclear Deal or the Israeli-Palestinian crisis. Both the EU, as a trading bloc, and China are two of the top three largest markets in the world (the United States being the other). At the same time, as the Chinese economy continues to grow, and Chinese President Xi Jinping consolidates power, Europe and the EU are facing a crisis in Euroscepticism, with the UK and Brexit being the most severe deterioration in terms of membership. At the same time, both the United States and the Russian Federation, have become less predictable, and arguably, more bellicose. The 2016 Global Attitudes Survey showed that Chinese respondents play ‘a more important role than 10 years ago’, more than did respondents from the EU, US and even India. The relationship between the global powers is changing and those changes will have an impact on the Europe-China relationship