The European Union And China 1949 2008

This book is a comprehensive reference book and commentary on basic documents about relations between the EU and the People's Republic of China from 1949 to the present. It contains all significant official and unofficial documents in English and Chinese about EU-China relations since the founding of the PRC in 1949. Since the opening-up of China in 1979, and especially after the establishment of the EU in 1992, relations between the EU and China have developed apace. Today the EU and China are 'strategic partners', with a very broad-based relationship, extending far beyond trade to encompass a growing number of important economic, political, social and cultural domains. The relationship is certain to gain in importance with increasing globalisation, EU expansion, Chinese membership of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the renewal and development of China, and changes in the international trading system and international politics. This book provides an indispensable foundation for teaching, research, policy-making and advising on EU-China relations. It includes both documents originally published in English and English translations of documents previously available only in Chinese, French or Portuguese. Essential to every library, it will also be required reading for students, teachers, researchers, policy-makers, legal practitioners and government officials in the EU, China, the United States and elsewhere.

A comprehensive reference book and commentary on basic documents about relations between the EU and the People's Republic of China from 1949 onwards. It contains various significant official and unofficial documents in English and Chinese about EU-China relations since the founding of the PRC in 1949.

In 25 years, EU-China relations have come far, further than many could have imagined - but how much further can these relations be taken? Today, their bilateral relations are at a crossroads. In effect, it has been 25 years since the EU and China agreed upon the legally binding Trade and Economic Cooperation Agreement, which sets the basis for their diplomatic relations. In an ever increasingly complex and globalised international environment, these actors have become mutually interdependent on a variety of levels. In 2007, they agreed to revise and update the 1985 accord and replace it with an all-encompassing Partnership and Cooperation Agreement. However, more than three years passed, and there are many points of contention which need to be negotiated. What obstacles are blocking this agreement? How can these obstacles be overcome? What concessions should be made and where? This book will provide an up-to-date analysis of the problematic concerns, and the means to resolve these issues, that range from human rights, to international trade conflicts and climate change.

Investigates the coherence between the EU's trade policy and its non-trade objectives from legal, political, and economic perspectives.

Reform and governance are of vital interest to both the People’s Republic of China and the European Union (EU). China is facing demographic and environmental challenges and has been experiencing a rapid economic transition. The social tensions arising from these challenges call for a governance system that will allow the Chinese leadership to alleviate social tensions without putting at risk their leadership. A society which is becoming more diverse and facing problems of a global scale that also cause turmoil at the grass roots may be difficult to govern top-down. Notwithstanding the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) grip on Chinese society, there may be ways to integrate public opinion and civil society organisations in governmental decision-making through reforms that do not challenge the current leadership. The EU, on the other hand, faces the same global challenges with a very different and complex governance system. EU foreign and security policy, thus including EU policy towards China, are governed by the EU’s foreign policy principles, which contain, among others, the promotion of democracy, the rule of law and the universality and indivisibility of human rights and fundamental freedoms. How successful can the EU be in advancing these principles when engaging with China, while respecting the Chinese political system? How can the EU and China find common grounds in their governance systems so as to enhance their strategic partnership in order to tackle global issues that need a coordinated approach?

This pioneering Research Handbook provides an in-depth scholarly overview of the field of soft law, exploring the scope of current thinking in the field as well as proposing future pathways for soft law research. Through theoretical and empirical analyses by established voices in the field, the Research Handbook offers important insights and much-needed clarity into the dynamic and complex nature of soft law. This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

This book presents a new theoretical framework for understanding the regulation of international trade. For this purpose, it analyses a series of integrated studies of relations between the EU, the WTO and China. It consists of three main parts. Part I introduces the basic concepts. It surveys the literature on law and globalisation, introduces the concept of sites of governance and the theory of global legal pluralism and sketches the foundations of global legal pluralism. It shows that each site of governance has both a structural dimension, consisting of institutions, norms and dispute resolution processes, and a relational dimension, comprising its relations with other sites of governance. The totality of sites of governance constitutes a new form of global legal pluralism. Part II analyses global legal pluralism in action in relations between the EU, the WTO and China. It examines the construction of relations between sites, ways in which relations between sites give rise to new legal concepts or transform the character of rules, the tension between regionalism and international integration and the governance of international production networks. It emphasises the reciprocal interaction between the structural features and the relational features of sites. Part III explores new directions in global legal pluralism. It first analyses regional trade agreements as a way of creating new sites of governance, focusing on agreements involving China. Then it considers how to enhance ethical values in international trade regulation. Based on an institutional analysis of relations between the WTO and other sites of governance, it proposes ways in which global legal pluralism can be used to reform the WTO, today the predominant institution in the regulation of international trade, including trade between the EU and China.

This book offers a series of original arguments on the relationships that Western interest groups have with the Chinese state. It details their lobbying strategies and the leverage it gives them in policy-making in China's political system. Analysis is provided in a comparative context. The author offers inside knowledge on Western business and analyses the nature of business-government relations on domestic Chinese innovation policies. Identifying and analysing the conceptual difference between Chinese and Western actors in their relationship to the state, this book demonstrates how China's existing mechanisms for monitoring activities of Chinese interest groups are ill-suited to exerting a similar degree of control over Western actors.

Striking a proper balance between unilateral exercise of intellectual property rights on the one hand and competition rules on the other hand is not an easy exercise. The right owners’ unilateral behaviour of refusal to license is one such delicate issue, particularly for China, considering that it has not been clarif ied within existing competition rules how to assess a right owner’s specif ic unilateral practices. In a series of cases, the EU courts have established the exceptional circumstances in which the right owners’ refusal conduct might be considered as an infringement of EU competition rules. In general, Chinese competition law has been modelled after the EU competition rules. This book firstly examines the EU approaches on dominant undertakings’ refusal to license intellectual property rights and the follow-on pricing issue, and then explores to what extent the EU model could contribute to China’s anti-monopoly practice.

This thought-provoking collection analyses the European Community's external relations between 1957 and 1992, with a particular focus upon their broader impact and global significance. Reconceptualizing the long arc of the EC's international role, from its inception in the 1950s to the end of the Cold War, the chapters identify and assess the factors that either supported or impeded Europe's international projection within this period. Organized into three parts, the authors investigate the EC's relations with key countries and world regions, discuss its activities within key policy areas, and offer reflections and conclusions on the various arguments that are put forward. Each chapter considers the entire period from 1957-1992 to identify and explain overarching trends, key decisions and historical conjunctions through scholarly literature, key debates and original discussion of each topic or policy issue. A final chapter situates the main findings within wider contexts, situating the EC in Cold War history. Bringing together international history and international relations, this project allows for cross-disciplinary dialogue and the careful discussion of key concepts, analytical approaches, and empirical findings. Filling a gap in our understanding of the early development of the EC's role as an autonomous global actor, this book holds important messages for the modern day, as the EU's position in global politics continues to shape the world.