China's 'Belt and Road' initiatives complement EU investment plan
- By Liu Zuokui
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E-mail China.org.cn, June 29, 2015
In fact, the "Belt and Road" initiatives are a package of broad cooperative plans involving politics, finance and culture, and Europeans are highly experienced in these fields, so there is a lot of space for cooperation.
China does still cannot accurately understand the intentions and details of the Juncker Investment Plan, and it is difficult to predict its prospects, so it should take a cautious approach for now.
Transportation, energy, education, environment, small and medium enterprises are the main focuses, but these areas are not necessarily full of investment opportunities, and there are many risks. Therefore, instead of being anxious to achieve pragmatic cooperation results, China should merely state an intention to cooperate for now.
Two forms of China and EU cooperation
Currently, the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI) constitutes the core of the Juncker Investment Plan, aimed at leveraging foreign investment in the real economy in many areas.
According to the EU proposal, the two sides can carry out two forms of cooperation within the framework of the EFSI. One is the establishment of a joint investment platform for infrastructure cooperation; the second is China's participation in specific project financing, such as cooperation between the Chinese policy-making investment bank and European investment bank.
Both ways have the potential to create more opportunities for Chinese enterprises to "go global," forming a close common community of interests and allaying EU doubts about China. At the same time, China will find out more about EU investment and financing rules and laws, and actively accumulate experience in European markets.
Therefore, the two sides are likely to sign an infrastructure investment cooperation framework, and may even reach an agreement on the establishment of an "interoperability" platform.
The author is an associate professor and deputy head of the Department of Central and Eastern European Studies at the Institute of European Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
The article was written in Chinese and translated by Li Jingrong.
Opinion articles reflect the views of their authors, not necessarily those of China.org.cn.
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