【英文】蒙田研究所报告：重新启动欧洲的对华战略（49页）

The People’s Republic of China poses an immense  challenge for the European Union, one unimaginable  only a few years ago. This challenge comes at a particularly difficult time.  Vladimir Putin’s attack on Ukraine has shattered  post-Cold War assumptions about the pan-European  security order. The COVID-19 pandemic is still raging,  imposing very real social and economic costs on European countries. Europe’s security interests are threatened in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.  The consequences of Brexit have not been entirely  digested yet, though the war in Ukraine is forcing  London and Brussels to work together more closely  on sanctions and other aspects of foreign and security  policy. Within the Union, illiberal and populist  governments are questioning its founding principles.  Against the background of this multiplicity of challenges, the EU sometimes struggles to assert itself  globally, even though it is still the largest economic  and trade entity in the world. 

China poses a challenge to Europe’s long-term  economic sustainability, to its political freedom to  act internationally, to its values and interests and,  ultimately, to its security. This is not only a direct  challenge, but one which grows out of China’s systemic impact on the international system.  European-Chinese disputes have been on the rise.  In Europe, in the United States and in other democratic market economies, the notion of ‘decoupling’  has gained ground in response to newly-perceived  risks in bilateral relations with China – the risk of  losing technological leadership and industrial competitiveness to Chinese companies backed by the Chinese state; and the risk of Chinese influence operations undermining liberal values and subverting  democratic politics. Decoupling can imply anything  from keeping key military or dual technologies out of  China’s hands to severing ties that result in economic  dependence on China.