Cina. Ulteriore potenziamento del Ceec, Europa dell’est. E noi? Possiamo pensare ai migranti!
Giuseppe Sandro Mela.
2018-07-10.
L’Unione Europea e, più in generale, l’Europa, sta attraversando un periodo di metamorfosi.
Quella eurodirigenza liberal socialista che sarebbe sembrata invincibile ha dimostrato tutta la sua incapacità ed inconsistenza. L’ultimo Consiglio Europeo ne è stato teatro sotto gli occhi di tutti.
È stata sufficiente la ferma presa di posizione dell’Italia e dei paesi del Visegrad per paralizzare il potere decisionale dell’Unione.
Mr Macron non è riuscito a realizzare un epsilon piccolo a piacere del piano sull’Unione Europea del quale tanto vanto si era fatto durante la campagna elettorale. Frau Merkel è il pallido sembiante di ciò che in passato era stata la potenza impositiva della Cancelleria tedesca.
In massima parte un così clamoroso fallimento è da ascriversi proprio all’ideologia professata dagli eurocrati. Sono schiavi dei paraocchi che si sono voluti mettere. Sono liberi di mettere in pratica l’idealogia che professano a mo’ di credo religioso.
Di tutte le ubbie una spicca paramount: il diniego a voler intrattenere rapporti con quanti non condividano la ideologia professata, da cui discende la ferma volontà di imporre degli Stati Uniti di Europa, ovviamente a loro guida.
Non è certo etichettando come “lebbra” le idee altrui che si possono tenere rapporti cordiali e collaborativi.
Ma in politica, così come in economia, gli spazi lasciati vuoti sono immediatamente riempiti da altri.
La Cina ha fondato il Ceec, il 16 + 1, ove i paesi dell’est europeo trovano un ambiente di paritetico rispetto reciproco, ove è possibile intessere rapporti economici e finanziari senza dover subire ingerenza alcuna negli affari interni degli stati.
Il Ceec è cresciuto rapidamente e bene.
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Nel contempo, proprio per il loro comportamento di chiusura ideologica, Germania e Francia non sono collaboratori graditi ai cinesi, che li hanno educatamente messi all’uscio, cosa di cui Frau Merkel e Mr Macron son rimasti esterrefatti e sconcertati. Adesso son quei villan rifatti a non volere gli illuminati.
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La reazione dei liberal è la usuale: scherniscono il progetto Ceec perché, essendo agli inizi, non ha ancora dispiegato le proprie potenzialità. Sono dimentichi anche del fatto che la Cina non intende schiacciare l’acceleratore, per non entrare in una vistosa rotta di collisione con l’Unione Europea.
«Despite the substantial rise in Chinese investment in CEE nations in recent years, the region accounts for less than 10 percent of total Chinese money inflows into Europe»
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«Nevertheless, some CEE leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban see closer economic ties with Beijing as an alternative to EU cooperation. “Central Europe needs capital to build new roads and pipelines. If the EU is unable to provide enough capital, we will just collect it in China,” Orban said»
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«Ever since its launch in 2012, the format has been viewed by Western critics as an instrument for Beijing to divide and undermine the EU by dangling the CEE states closer trade and investment opportunities with China.»
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«EU fears divisions as China woos Eastern European nations»
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Almeno nella ultima frase si è costretti a dire un qualcosa di vero.
Con circospezione e discrezione, la Cina sta facendosi amici gli stati dell’est europeo, che fanno il paragone tra il comportamento dei cinesi e quello degli attuali occupanti di Bruxelles.
The Chinese premier is meeting with leaders from Central and Eastern European countries at a summit in Sofia as he aims to boost Beijing’s trade interests in the region. But Li cannot afford to offend the European Union.
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Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang seeks to expand business and trade ties with Central and Eastern European countries at a summit in the Bulgarian capital on Saturday. But Li must reassure the European Union that Beijing is not trying to divide the 28-nation European bloc.
Li’s participation in the seventh “16+1” summit coincides with an escalating trade row with the United States. On Friday, the US and China slapped tariffs on $34 billion (€29 billion) worth of the other’s imports.
China also threatened it could launch “the biggest trade war in history.”
‘By no means a geopolitical platform’
China, which seeks the EU’s support in its trade battles with US President Donald Trump, has thus been careful in its dealing with Central and Eastern European nations.
“The 16+1 cooperation is by no means a geopolitical platform. Some say such cooperation may separate the EU, but this is not true,” Li told a joint press conference on Friday with Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko Borissov.
“We hope that through our cooperation, we will improve the development of all countries involved and help them better integrate into the European integration process,” said Li, who will visit Germany after the summit.
The 16+1 summit brings together China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), including 11 EU member states.
Besides China, the 16 countries that participate in the summit include EU members Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as non-EU states Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Importance of EU for China
Ever since its launch in 2012, the format has been viewed by Western critics as an instrument for Beijing to divide and undermine the EU by dangling the CEE states closer trade and investment opportunities with China.
But analysts say that in Sofia, the Chinese premier will try to avoid issues that might irk western capitals and the European Commission in Brussels.
“I think that Premier Li Keqiang will adopt a low profile on the issues that might infringe on community affairs of the EU this time around,” Francois Godement, director of Asia and China program at the European Council of Foreign Relations, told Reuters news agency.
Despite the substantial rise in Chinese investment in CEE nations in recent years, the region accounts for less than 10 percent of total Chinese money inflows into Europe. Most Chinese investment still goes to Western European countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy.
The EU and the United States, meanwhile, account for around 90 percent of investment flows to the CEE region, highlighting their far greater importance to the region.
China – a free trade champion?
With Trump adopting protectionist trade and economic policies, China is increasingly positioning itself as a proponent of free trade.
Li said on Saturday that Beijing will stay on the path of economic reform, and would be more flexible about allowing foreign products to enter its domestic market.
“For foreign products which meet Chinese consumer needs, we will open the door wider to them to come into the Chinese market,” he told the 16+1 summit participants. “We will lower overall import tariffs to the Chinese market,” adding that his country would uphold free trade agreements.
As the world prepares to tackle trade tensions and tit-for-tat tariffs, the summit between leaders of China and Central and Eastern European nations offers a chance for Beijing to present itself as a free trade champion.
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Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is meeting with leaders of Central and Eastern European countries in the Bulgarian capital Sofia as part of the seventh “16+1” summit, which brings together China and 16 Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC), including 11 European Union (EU) member states.
Besides China, the 16 countries that participate in the summit include EU members Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia, as well as non-EU states Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia.
Ever since its launch in 2012, the format has been viewed by Western critics as an instrument for Beijing to divide and undermine the EU by dangling the CEE states closer trade and investment opportunities with China.
Policymakers and analysts from China and some CEE countries, however, reject such assessment. They say that the purpose of the platform is to cultivate good relations and foster economic cooperation.
“The cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe is an integral part of China-EU cooperation. It sends a positive signal on the world stage in support of free trade,” Jin Ling, an expert on European affairs at the China Institute of International Studies, told DW.
Growing trade ties
Trade between the two sides has seen rapid growth over the past decade, with total commerce amounting to about $68 billion (€58 billion) in 2017. Over the past several years, China has pledged massive sums for infrastructure projects worth billions in the region, including in sectors that are critical for national security such as roads, railways and power stations.
In a bid to draw more Chinese money into the region, a special economic forum is being organized alongside this year’s summit. Over 250 Chinese firms and 700 business executives from CEE nations are taking part in it. “Our main goal is to increase Chinese business presence in Bulgaria and in the whole region of Central and Eastern Europe,” Bulgaria’s Deputy Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev told Reuters.
This enthusiasm, however, is not shared uniformly across Europe, particularly in Brussels where Beijing’s growing leverage over these countries is viewed as a threat to EU unity, norms and values.
Many European officials worry that, in exchange for Chinese investment, CEE countries would be willing to side with Beijing and hamper the EU from taking a unified stance on key global issues such as upholding the international rule of law and human rights.
Taking Beijing’s side
They point to instances such as Hungary’s refusal to sign a letter in 2017 condemning the torture of detained lawyers in China. Likewise, in 2016, Greece — which is an observer in the 16+1 grouping and major beneficiary of Chinese money in recent years — blocked a strong EU declaration against Beijing’s activities in the South China Sea.
In June 2017, Athens again blocked an EU statement at the UN Human Rights Council criticizing Beijing’s human rights record. CEE states have since blocked similar EU statements against China.
The leaders of these countries have also embraced Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), President Xi Jinping’s ambitious plan to build and expand transport and trade links between China and countries in Asia, Europe and Africa. BRI is widely seen as helping to cement Beijing’s position as a new global superpower.
Despite the substantial rise in Chinese investment in CEE nations in recent years, the region accounts for less than 10 percent of total Chinese money inflows into Europe. Most Chinese investment still goes to Western European countries like the United Kingdom, Germany, France and Italy.
The EU and the United States, meanwhile, account for around 90 percent of investment flows to the CEE region, highlighting their far greater importance to the region.
Nevertheless, some CEE leaders like Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban see closer economic ties with Beijing as an alternative to EU cooperation. “Central Europe needs capital to build new roads and pipelines. If the EU is unable to provide enough capital, we will just collect it in China,” Orban said in Berlin earlier this year.
Falling short
Despite the ambitious rhetoric about deepening partnership, some countries complain about the underwhelming results in terms of executing the announced projects.
The list of finished projects remains short, with just a bridge in Serbia and a motorway in Macedonia completed as of late 2017. “Some large-scale projects have been delayed, reflecting some of the current trust deficits between Europe and China. These should be resolved through dialogue,” Chinese analyst Jin Ling said.
Some have also started to grumble about financing and contractual terms. Observers say Chinese infrastructure loans have often been linked to Chinese contractors and labor doing the work using Chinese materials, thus contributing little to local economic development.
Some Chinese investments in CEE countries could also create risks to their financial stability, they say. “Easy access to Chinese money could be particularly risky for smaller 16+1 players, where uncontrolled growth of debt could pose threats to the fiscal stability of their economies,” Micha Romanowski, an expert in Eurasian affairs at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, wrote in a report published last year by YaleGlobal Online.
“When Montenegro signed a highway contract with China in 2014, it saw its public debt grew by 23 percent,” he pointed out.
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