6. China-CEEC Cooperation during the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic since the beginning of 2020 has dealt a heavy blow to countries all over the world, including China, both economically and socially. Since the outbreak of this pandemic, the largest public health emergency facing humanity, China and CEECs have worked hand in hand to weather the challenges. When China was at its most difficult time, CEECs lent a helping hand. Hungary and Poland provided China with medical supplies immediately. Polish President Andrzej Duda, Czech President Milos Zeman and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić sent letters to President Xi Jinping. First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić of Serbia visited China, bringing with him the firm support and friendship of the Serbian people towards the Chinese people. The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra and a Polish blues-rock band voiced support for China through music. The sincerity and assistance of CEECs were well-received in China.
As China gradually put the pandemic under control, while the virus spread fast in Europe, China worked fast to assist the CEECs. On 13 March, a video conference on tackling COVID-19 was organized by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Health Commission, the General Administration of Customs and the Municipal Government of Beijing, to share experience with CEECs on tackling COVID-19 and step up public health cooperation. The Chinese government, businesses and NGOs also provided CEECs with large quantities of supplies necessary for combating COVID-19 by various means. The China-Europe Rail Freight trains and Chinese air carriers shipped a lot of suppliers to CEECs. A Chinese medical team was sent to Serbia. BGI donated two test laboratories to Serbia and core facilities of nucleic acid test laboratories to Greece. By donating medical supplies, keeping transportation passages open, dispatching medical experts and sharing best practice and information, China has taken concrete actions to help CEECs fight the virus. Meanwhile, projects under the China-CEEC framework are making steady progress. Construction of infrastructural projects undertaken by Chinese businesses in CEECs, such as the Szczecin Port in Poland and the Peljesac Bridge in Croatia, is underway as planned. The Stanari Thermal Power Plant in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Smederevo Steel Plant in Serbia invested and operated by China are running well. An online Information Exchange and Matchmaking Conference between Chinese and CEEC SMEs on Resuming Work and Production was held in June in Beijing, and over 300 businesses took part and signed nearly 70 cooperation agreements. These have offered CEECs support and help as they worked hard to stabilize their economies. Cooperation during the pandemic has added a new dimension to the China-CEEC Cooperation and opened up new possibilities and prospects for their cooperation in the future.
[1] Greece’s joining China-CEEC Cooperation in 2019 made the group bigger, but did not change the geographical range of the format, as Greece is part of southeastern Europe. But Greece does differ from the original 16 countries in terms of its identity in a number of ways.
[2] China-CEEC Think Tanks Network, An Analysis of the Current State and Prospects of China-CEEC Sectoral Cooperation Platforms, Research Fund on China-CEEC Relations 2019.
[3] Liu Zuokui, Report on the View of Chinese Businesses on CEEC Business Environment, Economy of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 4th Issue of 2020.
[4] Liu Zuokui, Report on the View of Chinese Businesses on CEEC Business Environment, Economy of Russia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 4th Issue of 2020.
[5] In 2017, organized by the China-CEEC Think Tanks Network, a group of scholars reviewed results achieved in China-CEEC Cooperation in the five years before, and major findings were: China-CEEC Cooperation has helped bring bilateral relations forward and has contributed to regional cooperation, China-EU relations and Belt and Road Initiative. For more details, please see 2018 edition of the Report on the Five-Year Achievement of the Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries (2012–2017) by Huang Ping and Liu Zuokui, Social Sciences Academic Press (China).
[6] Liu Zuokui, China-CEEC Cooperation: A New Try of China in Building A New Type of International Relations, No.12，Contemporary World.
[7] “China, the 16+1 format and the EU”, https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2018/625173/EPRS_BRI(2018)625173_EN.pdf.
[8] Justyna Szczudlik, “Seven Years of the 16+1: An Assessment of China’s ‘Multilateral Bilateralism’ in Central Europe”, Asie Visions, No.107, https://www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/szczudlik_161_2019.pdf.
[9] Jakub Jakóbowski, “Chinese-led Regional Multilateralism in Central and Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America: 16+1, FOCAC, and CCF”, Journal of Contemporary China, Vol.27, No.113, 2018, pp.659-673.
[10] “China’s 16+1 foray into Central and Eastern Europe”, https://euobserver.com/eu-china/138347.
[11] “Why China Is Wooing Eastern and Central Europe”, https://nationalinterest.org/feature/why-china-wooing-eastern-and-central-europe-30492.
[12] Marsela Musabelliu, “China’s Belt and Road Initiative Extension to Central and Eastern European Countries - Sixteen Nations, Five Summits, Many Challenges” , Croatian International Relations Review, Vol.23, No.78, 2017, pp.57-76.
[13] Lilei Song and Dragan Pavlićević, “China’s Multilayered Multilateralism: A Case Study of China and Central and Eastern Europe Cooperation Framework”, Chinese Political Science Review, Vol.4, 2019, pp.277-302.
[14] Zang Shumei, An Analysis of a Multi-tiered Cooperation Mechanism: China-CEEC Local Cooperation against the Backdrop of Belt and Road Initiative, First Issue, 2020, Social Sciences.
[15] Wu Mengke, An Interview with Liu Zuokui, Research Fellow and Director of the Department of Central and Eastern European Studies of the Institute of European Studies, CASS: How to Deal with the Challenges Facing China-CEEC Cooperation, Issue 15, 2018, World Affairs.