Europe and China's New Silk Roads
As China elaborates on the design of its "Belt and Road Initiative" (OBOR), the place of Europe within this project is slowly but surely taking shape.
This report provides a comparative perspective of OBOR as seen from various European Union member states. The Chinese leadership officially launched the OBOR framework in autumn 2013, presenting it immediately as a key national concept and foreign policy priority for the years to come. This report covers the role of OBOR in the relations between China and fourteen EU member states, including all larger and many middle-sized countries, as seen from the European side. It does so by systematically treating three basic questions across a selection of EU member states and at the EU level itself:
• Which OBOR-related activities exist currently in the host countries and at the EU level?
• What is China’s approach towards individual EU member states with regard to OBOR?
• What are the perceptions and reactions in individual European countries and at the EU level?
This is the second report by the European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC), a network co-founded by Ifri and the Elcano Royal Institute in November 2014, and coordinated in conjunction with the Mercator Institute for China Studies (MERICS) and 14 other policy research institutes across Europe. The Netherlands Institute of International Relations ‘Clingendael’ provided key leadership in editing and publishing this second report.
Chapters of the report:
1. The Role of OBOR in Europe–China Relations
Frans-Paul van der Putten, Mikko Huotari, John Seaman, Alice Ekman and Miguel Otero-Iglesias
2. The Czech Republic: New Strategic Partnership with China, yet Little Real OBOR Touch
Rudolf Fürst
3. OBOR from a Danish Perspective: Still Mainly Limited to the AIIB
Andreas Bøje Forsby and Yang Jiang
4. France: On the Periphery of China’s New Silk Roads
John Seaman and Alice Ekman
5. Germany and the ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative: Tackling Geopolitical Implications through Multilateral Frameworks
Jan Gaspers and Bertram Lang
6. ‘One Belt, One Road’ Projects in Greece: A Key Driver of Sino–Greek Relations
Plamen Tonchev
7. Hungary: Along the New Silk Road across Central Europe
Tamás Matura
8. OBOR and Italy: Strengthening the Southern Route of the Maritime Silk Road
Nicola Casarini
9. The Netherlands and the New Silk Road: Threats and Opportunities resulting from Changing Trade Routes
Frans-Paul van der Putten
10. Poland on the Silk Road in Central Europe: To Become a Hub of Hubs?
Justyna Szczudlik
11. Portugal and OBOR: Welcoming, but Lacking a Strategy
Carlos Rodrigues
12. Slovakia: Disconnected from China’s New Silk Road
Gabriela Pleschová
13. Spain: Looking for Opportunities in OBOR
Mario Esteban and Miguel Otero-Iglesias
14. ‘One Belt, One Road’ in the Swedish Context
Elin Rappe and Mikael Weissmann
15. The United Kingdom: A Platform for Commercial Cooperation
Tim Summers
16. The EU Level: ‘Belt and Road’ Initiative Slowly Coming to Terms with the EU Rules-based Approach
Michal Makocki
Download the full analysis
This page contains only a summary of our work. If you would like to have access to all the information from our research on the subject, you can download the full version in PDF format.
Europe and China's New Silk Roads
Author(s)
John SEAMAN
Research Fellow, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
Alice EKMAN
Former Research Fellow, Head of China research, Center for Asian Studies, Ifri
Related centers and programs
Discover our other research centers and programs
Center for Asian Studies
Asia is a nerve center for multiple global economic, political and security challenges. The Center for Asian Studies provides documented expertise and a platform for discussion on Asian issues to accompany decision makers and explain and contextualize developments in the region for the sake of a larger public dialogue.
The Center's research is organized along two major axes: relations between Asia's major powers and the rest of the world; and internal economic and social dynamics of Asian countries. The Center's research focuses primarily on China, Japan, India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific, but also covers Southeast Asia, the Korean peninsula and the Pacific Islands.
The Centre for Asian Studies maintains close institutional links with counterpart research institutes in Europe and Asia, and its researchers regularly carry out fieldwork in the region.
The Center organizes closed-door roundtables, expert-level seminars and a number of public events, including an Annual Conference, that welcome experts from Asia, Europe and the United States. The work of Center’s researchers, as well as that of their partners, is regularly published in the Center’s electronic journal Asie.Visions.
European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC)
The European Think-tank Network on China (ETNC) is a gathering of China experts from a selection of European research institutes. It is devoted to the policy-oriented study of Chinese foreign policy and relations between China and European countries as well as China and the EU. It facilitates regular exchanges among participating researchers with a view to deepening the understanding within the European policy and research community and the broader public of how Europe, as a complex set of actors, relates with China and how China’s development and evolving global role is likely to impact the future of Europe. The network’s discussions and analyses take a decidedly ‘bottom-up’ approach, accounting for the various aspects of bilateral relations between European countries and China, and the points of convergence and divergence among EU member states in order to examine EU-China relations in a realistic and comprehensive way. The views presented in ETNC reports are the sole responsibility of the signed authors and do not in any way represent the views of all members of the ETNC, its participating institutions, nor the institutions with which the authors are affiliated.
Find out more
Discover all our analyses
Unlocking India’s Energy Transition: Addressing Grid Flexibility Challenges and Solutions
India is rapidly scaling up its renewable energy (RE) capacity, adding 15–20 GW annually, but the ambitious goal of 500 GW of non-fossil capacity by 2030 is at risk unless the pace accelerates.
The China-Russia Partnership and the Ukraine War: Aligned but not allied
China and Russia maintain a strategic partnership rooted in shared opposition to the U.S. and liberal democracies, but their relationship is shaped more by pragmatism than trust.
Technical Standards, Soft Connectivity and China’s Belt and Road: Towards greater convergence or fragmentation?
As the intensification of geopolitical competition points toward increased global fragmentation, the definition of technical standards for future markets and industries will play an important role in determining just how deep the fissures will run.
India’s Quest for Economic Emancipation from China
In October 2024, the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi initiated a thaw in relations between the two Asian powers. Has India's high level of economic dependence on China played an important role in bringing about this diplomatic shift?