Sino-EU Economic Relations Balancing De-risking Strategy with Global Cooperation and Competition

This Palgrave Pivot book analyses the current state of economic and financial relations between China and the European Union. It illustrates the ‘de-risking’ strategy that informs much of financial policy between China and the EU and argues that this differs from the policy of ‘decoupling’ that characterizes the US approach towards China. Exploring how the EU positions itself in the context of a trade and tech race between the US and China, the book sketches out a range of geopolitical challenges for Europe as it navigates current and future scenarios in global economic cooperation and competition. It discusses the concept of ‘strategic autonomy’ for the EU and explores barriers to achieving this as well as options for re-shaping relations with China. The book provides an excellent overview for researchers and policy-makers of Sino-EU economic relations today and sets them firmly in the contexts of the post-pandemic world with new global value chains, rapid technological development, and evolving environmental challenges.

Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The new challenges for the Sino-EU relations.- Chapter 3: The Sino-EU trade relations and their interdependencies.- Chapter 4: The Sino-EU investment relations and their interdependencies.- Chapter 5: The Sino-EU sustainable green (environmentally friendly) technological competition and cooperation.- Chapter 6: The Sino-EU financial cooperation and perspectives for reshaping the global financial markets.- Chapter 7: The current Sino-EU cooperation options in the context of the current geopolitical environment.- Chapter 8: Conclusions and Recommendations: The consequences of the EU's 'de-risking' strategy for the international economic order.

René W.H. van der Linden is lecturer & researcher at the International Business program of The Hague University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands. Together with Piotr Lasak, he published The Financial Implications of China’s Belt and Road Initiative in 2019 and Financial Interdependence, Digitalization and Technological Rivalries in 2023. 

Piotr Lasak is an Associate Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. His research focuses on topics related to international financial markets development, including financial market regulation and supervision, mechanisms of financial and currency crises, digitalization of the financial sector, and shadow banking system development (especially in China).