IHT publishes GPPi op-ed on "Europe’s China Angst"

On December 3, the International Herald Tribune published an op-ed by GPPi Research Associates Björn Conrad and Stephan Mergenthaler entitled Europe’s China Angst. The piece alerts to Europe’s enduring reluctance to embrace China as a joint stakeholder of global governance. 

Conrad and Mergenthaler argue that the most recent China-European Union summit illustrated a broader malaise. Amounting to nothing more than updating and celebrating ongoing bureaucratic cooperation, the annual summit meetings have so far failed to provide the requisite political backing for making bilateral relations count for global governance. ​“For all the rhetoric of engaging China and global burden sharing, however, Europe’s China angst — its fear of losing influence by granting real responsibility to China — regularly turns such bilateral encounters into wasted opportunities for taking on global responsibilities.” 

To overcome this deadlock, the EU needs to bring to the table a clear agenda on which it can build broad consensus (such as on climate change targets and the Iranian nuclear crisis) and in turn make room for more Chinese representation on international bodies such as the World Bank.