Why more European countries are turning to China for cooperation

Editor's note: Nikola Mikovic, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is a freelance journalist in Serbia. He covers mostly Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian foreign policy issues and writes for multiple web magazines. The article reflects the author's opinions and not necessarily those of CGTN.

Despite pressure from Washington to decouple from the world's second largest economy, a host of European countries still aim to strengthen their trade and investment cooperation with China. Chinese President Xi Jinping's upcoming visit to Europe is evidence of the robust Beijing-Brussels ties.

For years, China has become one of the most important trading partners of the European Union. In 2023, China was the largest partner for EU imports of goods –20.5 percent –followed by the U.S., the UK, Switzerland and Norway. In the meantime, China is also involved in the construction of numerous infrastructure projects all over the continent.

China's economic power and its political will to provide global public goods determine its popularity in Europe. Take Serbia as an example. Despite some pessimistic voices calling for European countries to distance themselves from China, Serbia welcomes investments from China and cooperation at various levels with the country.

Being in what many analysts see as an "eternal EU waiting room," Serbia has been actively developing its iron-clad friendship with China. Last year, the Serbian government signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with China, which is the first of its kind signed by Beijing with a nation from Central and Eastern Europe. In January 2024, China agreed to invest $2.18 billion in Serbia to build a 1.5 GW wind farm, a 500 MW solar plant and a hydrogen production facility.

Apart from economic cooperation, Belgrade and Beijing have been actively developing close diplomatic and political ties as well. China is willing to strengthen high-level exchanges and plan for future cooperation with Serbia, so as to push China-Serbia relations to new heights, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said in February this year.

The China-Serbia relationship has strengthened under President Xi. According to media reports, Xi, during his European trip, is expected to visit Belgrade around the 25th anniversary of the NATO bombing of the former Chinese embassy in the city. When visiting Serbia in 2016, Xi became China's first leader to pay respects at the site of the former embassy.

After his Serbia trip, Xi is expected to visit Hungary. Being the first European country to sign on to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Hungary aims to boost its trade and economy by participating in various BRI projects. The Budapest-Belgrade Railway – linking the capitals of Hungary and Serbia – is one of the most important ones. Chinese companies operating in Serbia are expected to complete the construction of the Serbian section of the railway by the end of the year. Upon completion, travel time between Belgrade and Budapest is expected to be reduced from eight hours to about three.

National interests determine Europe's eagerness to develop warmer ties with China. As the global economy is shifting from the West to the East, European countries, including Serbia and Hungary, aspire to expand and deepen pragmatically cooperative relations with Asia. Despite U.S. pressure, European countries are hesitant to pull away from the profitable Chinese market and have no interest in decoupling from China.

Given deep economic interdependence between the EU and China, European leaders are unlikely to be willing to fall into traps of confrontations with Beijing.

In addition, China's transformation from a recipient to a provider of global public goods means cooperation with Beijing is a more preferable choice than joining Washington's anti-Beijing bloc for many European countries. For most EU members, national interests determine that cooperation with China is the right choice.

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