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ABSTRACT
China’s long-term cooperation with Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC) has received a great number of academic debates for being part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative and component of China-EU relations. It’s noted China is not the only external “game player” in the CEEC region. After the end of the Cold War, Japan also enhanced its relations in the region through diplomacy and the provision of developmental assistance, which led to a deepening cooperation in the region within the Japan-EU framework of the 2010s. This article aims to form a comparative study of the strategies that China and Japan deploy in the CEEC in the historical review up to the present day, and to evaluate the approaches from institutional perspective as well as the infrastructure aspect when the two Asian countries dealing with the CEEC. It argues that China-launched cooperative scheme with the CEEC also draws the attention from Japan and Japan’s relevant policies in CEEC cast significant implications on the development of China-CEEC cooperation. The comparison also rises some greater political landscape by not only involving the BRI and PQI, but also in QUAD and EU-relevant strategies.
In discussing the above approaches and comparisons, the article concludes that China’s various domestic and foreign policies towards CEEC present a “charming attraction” to Japan even in the context of China-US rivalry. Both Japan and CEEC need to be more pragmatic and positive towards cooperative mechanisms with China and embrace more opportunities to mutually support both China’s and Japan’s regional presences and influence for the continued development of the CEEC region.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. Gerstl, “Governance Along the New Silk Road.”
2. After Lithuania’s statement of withdrawal from the “17 + 1” cooperation between China and CEEC, Chinese scholars and think tanks are precautionarily using the name of “17 + 1”. In this paper, “17 + 1” or “16 + 1” is used interchangeably to convey the same meaning, i.e., China-CEEC cooperation.
3. Song and Wang, “Toward a More Promising Partnership”.
4. Cieslik and Ryan, “Characterizing Japanese Direct Investment.”
5. The People. “The Trade Volume between China and CEEC Exceeds US$100 Billion for the First Time.”
6. Economy, “The Third Revolution”.
7. Tursanyi and Simalcik, “Hungarian Policy Toward China Might Be Facing a Seismic Shift”.
8. Venne,“China in Hungary: Real Threat or False Alarm?”.
9. Kavalski, “The Struggle for Recognition.”
10. Xing, Mapping China’s One Belt.
11. Akon and Rahman, “Reshaping the Global Order.”
12. Kawashima, “China and Eastern Europe.”
13. Campbell and Doshi, “The Coronavirus Could Reshape.”
14. China National Radio. “Xi Attended the China International Friendship Conference and Delivered Speech.”
15. Horváth, “The Geopolitical Role of China.”
16. Kavalski, “Quo Vadis Cooperation between China and Eastern Europe in the Era of Covid-19”.
17. Pepe, “China’s Inroads into Central.”
18. Mayer and Kavalski, “How to Make the Most.”
19. Beeson and Li, “China’s Place in Regional,” 491.
20. Gao, “Navigating Around the Chinese hegemon.”
21. Macikenaite, “China’s Economic Statecraft.”
22. AIES, policy paper.
23. Kitade, “Why Does Eastern Europe Matter.”
24. Berkofsky, “EU-Japan Relations.”
25. Liu and Li, “A Comparative Study of Chinese and Japanese Investment in Central and Eastern Europe.”
26. See note 23 above.
27. Berkofsky, “EU-Japan relations.”
28. Bertalanic, “V4+ Japan.”
29. Liu and Li published two respective articles in 2019 and 2021 to discuss Sino-Japan relations and CEEC, and they also coauthored an article in 2021 to discuss investment features of China and Japan in CEEC. These three Chinese articles represent the general views and opinions within Chinese academia on this topic. The three articles are: “Japan’s Policy towards CEEC and Its Impact on China’s 16 + 1 Initiative” by Liu in 2019, “Japan’s strengthening Economic and Trade Ties with Central and Eastern Europe: Motivation, Layout and Influence” by Li in 2021, and the coauthored “A Comparative Study of Chinese and Japanese Investment in Central and Eastern Europe.”
30. Pascha, “Belts, Roads, and Regions: The Dynamics of Chinese and Japanese Infrastructure connectivity initiatives and Europe’s Responses.”
31. Parepa, “The Belt and Road.”
32. See note 21 above.
33. Mayer, China’s Rise as Eurasian Power.
34. Forgács and Csillik, “China – A robotizing East-Asian.”
35. Deloitte, “Embracing the BRI Ecosystem.”
36. Taniguchi, “Beyond ‘The Arc of Freedom and Prosperity’.”
37. ADB, “Meeting Asia’s Infrastructure Needs.”
38. McKinsey Global Institute, “Bridging Infrastructure Gaps.”
39. ERIA, “History of CADP.”
40. OECD, “Enhancing Connectivity through Transport.”
41. Pascha, “The Quest for Infrastructure Development.”
42. Pascha, “Belts, Roads and Regions.”
43. GICA, “Why Connectivity Matters.”
44. Seibt, “With Its ‘Global Gateway’, EU Tries to Compete with China’s Belt and Road Initiative”.
45. See note 41 above.
46. Iida, “Japan’s Reluctant Embrace of BRI?”.
47. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”
48. Grissler and Vargo, “The BRI vs FOIP: Japan’s Countering of China’s Global Ambitions.”
49. 2021 EU-Japan Summit Joint Statement.
50. CGIT.
51. Liu, “Cooperation between China.”
52. European Commission, “Joint Communication to the European.”
53. Grissler and Vargö, “The BRI vs FOIP.”
54. EC-HR, “EU–China Strategic Outlook.”
55. AIE, “Policy Paper.”
56. See note 41 above.
57. Bromund and Kochis, “The Top Five U.S. Priorities.”
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Qichao Wang
Qichao Wang is currently a lecturer at Polish Studies Center, School of International Relations, Xi’an International Studies University. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Macau and B.A. in Minzu University of China and M.A. in International Politics from China Foreign Affairs University. He has been selected to the visiting fellow in CSIS Jakarta and PAIGEO Institute in Budapest, Hungary. His teaching and research focus on Area Studies, China’s foreign Policy and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area.
Jianwei Wang
Jianwei Wang is Emeritus Professor in the Department of Government and Public Administration at the University of Macau and has served as senior analyst in Hong Kong and Macau. He holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Michigan and a B.A. and M.A. in International Politics from Fudan University (Shanghai). Previously, he was Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He has also served as a research fellow and visiting scholar at George Washington University’s Sigur Center for Asian Studies, the Atlantic Council of the United States, the East-West Center (Hawaii), and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva. His teaching and research focus on East Asian politics and security, Chinese and American politics and foreign policy, Sino-American and Sino-Japanese relations, and UN peacekeeping operations. He has published extensively in these areas.