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New Silk Roads: The Need for Effective Cooperation Between EU and China

Investment in infrastructure, especially network infrastructure, testifies to the basic human need to connect. The connections may be built and managed to alter economic and geopolitical equilibria. The progress of the gigantic Chinese infrastructural project known as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) rang an alarm bell in the EU. The BRI may pose a risk to political cohesion within Europe and to EU policy with neighbouring countries. Accordingly, the EU has proposed a major project of its own that clarifies the European commitment to infrastructural investment. While it too has connectivity objectives, it is smaller in scope and distinct in approach. These differences reflect the value sets underlying the Chinese and European socioeconomic models. Cooperation under market-based rules has shown limitations owing to decisions of both the Chinese and some EU governments in violation of the spirit of the cooperation. Nevertheless, the Eurasian infrastructure gap is such that the two sides should cooperate effectively to turn a potential clash into a win-win outcome.