2. Promoting Common Development and Shared Benefits via Bilateral and Multilateral Cooperation Combined
China-CEEC Cooperation is an open format, where bilateral cooperation serves as bedrock, while the format itself serves as a platform, and they are mutually reinforcing. China-CEEC Cooperation has offered an important opportunity for bilateral relations to deepen and achieve sustained growth. Due to a lack of understanding and suspicion about the format, some Western think tanks and even diplomats assume that China-CEEC Cooperation will marginalize or even hollow out bilateral cooperation, but there are no sufficient evidence to support this assumption. As a matter of fact, all-dimensional bilateral cooperation has always been regarded as foundation, while multilateral cooperation serves as a facilitator and innovator. In other words, China-CEEC Cooperation has always been trying to bring new elements to bilateral cooperation, instead of squeezing its space. In recent years, thanks to China-CEEC Cooperation, China’s bilateral relationships with CEECs have come a long way, and in return, helped the China-CEEC format grow in strength.
First, the 17 pairs of bilateral relationships have developed more intensely.
Since 2012, China has established, upgraded or strengthened its strategic partnership or comprehensive strategic partnership with six CEECs, namely the Czech Republic, Serbia, Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece, including newly established strategic partnerships with the Czech Republic, Hungary and Bulgaria. A more closely woven network of partnerships has enhanced the quality of China-CEEC Cooperation.
The creation of China-CEEC Cooperation is also accompanied by closer attention of the Chinese top leadership to the region, resulting in more frequent visits that have helped enhance strategic cooperation and friendship between the two sides. In 2016, President Xi Jinping visited the Czech Republic, Serbia and Poland, where China established or upgraded its strategic partnership with the three countries. In 2019, President Xi visited Greece, where bilateral cooperation was taken to a new level. In the meantime, taking the opportunities of the eight China-CEEC Summits, Chinese and CEEC leaders held collective and bilateral meetings in Warsaw (Poland), Bucharest (Romania), Belgrade (Serbia), Suzhou (China), Riga (Latvia), Budapest (Hungary), Sofia (Bulgaria) and Dubrovnik (Croatia). CEEC political leaders also visited China on the sidelines of the China-CEEC Summit, the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation and the China International Import Expo, where bilateral meetings were held, agreement reached and fruitful results achieved. The relations between China and CEECs have improved as a whole, with a better environment and greater inclination for cooperation.
Second, China’s cooperation with the 17 countries have become more targeted.
A series of well-targeted cooperation measures have been rolled out to serve China-CEEC Cooperation as a whole, by giving full play to the features, strengths and initiatives of CEECs and making the format an inclusive cooperation platform shared by all. According to incomplete calculation, there have been nearly 40 sectoral cooperation platforms, including those in preparation, covering such areas as tourism, institutes of higher learning, investment promotion, agriculture, technology transfer, think tanks, infrastructure, logistics, forestry, health, energy, maritime affairs, SMEs, culture, banking, environmental protection and youth. The overall China-CEEC Cooperation framework has rendered strong support to the establishment and development of sectoral cooperation platforms. In return, more developed and influential platforms have contributed to the development of China-CEEC Cooperation, achieving a shift from mere inter-governmental cooperation model to a more specialized model that engages different players. Such inclusive and diversified way of cooperation has invigorated China-CEEC Cooperation.[2]
The sectoral cooperation platforms are mostly self-organized structures where countries and their organizations join on a voluntary basis. Host countries or organizations of such platforms are also self-organized, using their own resources to operate and manage the platforms on their own. This requires professional background and resources in their specialized fields, or the platforms cannot be sustained. Although almost all these platforms are endorsed by governments, most organizations running the platforms are non-governmental or semi-governmental.
These self-organized and self-managed platforms formulated charters and codes of conducts and developed structures and management similar to those of a guild, and operate based on the principle of voluntarism. All of them were established to serve their specialized fields and are, therefore, more professional and authoritative.
Third, China-invested projects are gradually being materialized, highlighting the practical nature of China-CEEC Cooperation.
A joint survey by the China-CEEC Think Tanks Network and the China-CEEC Business Council in 2020 shows that a large number of projects invested by Chinese businesses in CEECs have produced good economic and social effects, with Chinese businesses increasingly interested in investing in the region. Chinese businesses have invested in projects of different sizes in different countries and have developed their own country and region preferences depending on the national realities of CEECs. Representative projects include investment by TCL and Liugong Machinery in Poland, investment by BYD Auto and Shandong Dihao International Investment Co. Ltd. in Hungary, investment by BGI in Latvia and investment by COSCO in Greece (see attached a list of Chinese investment or cooperation projects in CEECs for details).
The sustainability of China-CEEC practical cooperation remains to be seen. In early 2020, the China-CEEC Business Council and the China-CEEC Think Tanks Network jointly conducted a questionnaire survey on the view of Chinese businesses on CEEC business environment (disseminated on 1 January 2020 and collected on 10 January). 109 businesses answered the questionnaire, covering most state-owned and some private businesses engaged in investment, project contracting and trade in the region. These businesses are related to 117 investment projects, basically covering all projects related to Chinese businesses in CEECs. [3] Results show that China-CEEC Cooperation has visibly facilitated the efforts of Chinese businesses to invest in the region. Around 38% of the businesses involved were established more than seven years ago, which means before China-CEEC Cooperation was initiated, Chinese businesses had had their presence in CEECs to some extent. About 44% of the businesses were established less than seven years ago, which means more businesses have established themselves in CEECs in the recent seven years than the many years before. Results also show that over 80% of the businesses hope to continue to expand their presence in CEECs.[4]
At the China-CEEC Summit held in Bucharest, Romania, on 25 November 2013, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán Viktor and Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić jointly announced their agreement to modernize the Budapest-Belgrade Railway. At the China-CEEC Summit held in Suzhou, China, on 24 November 2015, the Chinese government and the Hungarian government signed an agreement on the development, construction and financing cooperation on the Hungarian section of the Budapest-Belgrade Railway. At the China-CEEC Summit held in Riga, Latvia, on 5 November 2016, the Chinese Consortium represented by China Communications Construction Company and China Railway International signed the commercial contract with the Serbian government on the first part of the Serbian Section of the Budapest-Belgrade Railway. This meant that the project has entered its implementation stage. On 28 November 2017, the inauguration ceremony of the Belgrade-Stara Pazova section was held and construction started in June 2018.
The Hungarian section is making slower progress, as a result of EU investigation and opposition from within, but major progress has been made so far. In May 2019, a consortium consisting of Chinese and Hungarian businesses won the bid for the design and construction of the project. On 24 April 2020, the Export and Import Bank of China and the Ministry of Finance of Hungary signed a loan agreement to finance the project, one step further towards actual realization of the project. On 19 May, the National Assembly of Hungary passed a bill on the modernization of Budapest-Belgrade Railway and voiced support for the agreement between the Chinese and Hungarian governments on the development, construction and financing cooperation on the Hungarian Section of the project. Since then, prospects for the project have become clearer.
Although almost all Chinese-invested projects are related to a specific country, which will inevitably help bring bilateral relations forward, it is fair to say that the realization of these projects has been directly affected by the overall China-CEEC Cooperation policy, and the strengthened business-to-business cooperation is an important outcome of the China-CEEC format.
Fourth, China-CEEC people-to-people exchanges have advanced on all fronts.
After many quiet years, China-CEEC people-to-people exchanges have started to grow at an unprecedented speed, and a momentum has been developed all over the region. A fast growth has been witnessed in the number of Chinese tourists visiting CEECs, and in response to this, countries such as Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania introduced visa-free or seasonal visa-free policies for Chinese passport holders. Increasingly vibrant tourist exchanges and other activities have prompted the opening of a number of direct flight routes between China and CEECs (Beijing-Warsaw, Beijing-Budapest, Shanghai-Budapest, Beijing-Prague, Shanghai-Prague, Chengdu-Prague, etc.). Traditional Chinese medicine has found its way into the CEEC market (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania), bringing with it the finest Chinese traditional culture. Educational cooperation has never been more active, with Chinese universities establishing language teaching institutes, joint exchanges programs and CEEC-related regional and country-specific research institutes. Chinese think tanks have also established various research centers and networks and progress has been made in a short period of time. As a result, the enthusiasm of CEECs has been significantly increased, and many of them expressed an interest to host various China-CEEC events, especially the China-CEEC Summit, to expand their influence. [5]