Contents
Preface
Silk Road Initiative Fit into EU Recovery Goals
Landslide EU Vote Result Is Less than It May Appear
Back to Normal, But Still Much to Do
Taking a Page from Europes Book
Real Partnership with EU Just Starts Unfolding
Czechs Help Build Common Prosperity
Uneasy Times as Belgium Mourns the Dead After Terror Attacks
Opportunities for All as China Pursues Eco-friendly Growth
Aging Population Not Necessarily a Burden
Chinese Kids Abroad Need Chinese Schools
Brussels Streets Show the Dual View of China
Spring Festival Diplomacy Counters Critics Claims
Davos Doubters Won over by China
Swiss Offer Lessons in Soft Power
New Years Wish： Greener China and Safer Europe
Climate Talks Legacy Must Not Go Silent
Green Plans Need Coal Mine Closures
EU Can Gain by Granting Market Economy Status
Rich Countries Should Honor Climate Vows
Paris Success Would Boost Global Confidence
This Fathers Hopes for Sons Safety in His City
Currency Inclusion Makes System Fairer
A Green Transformation over Six Years
Plans for Next Five Years Can Draw on UK Visit
Warning to EU Exposes Bias Against China
EU Should Help Build More Bridges with China
EU Must Pressure US into Taking in Syrian Refugees
Western Leaders Missed Rare Chance to Build Peace
Will Japan Ever Have Courage to Own up to Its Past?
Tsipras Faces a Tough Task to Trigger Growth
Time for EU and China to Act on a Free-Trade Deal
Principals on Front Line of Climate Change Education
Property Market Needs Sound Policy Foundations
Many Benefits of a Grand Plan for Affordable Housing
From Russia, with Peace, Progress and Purpose
Will Greece Ever Seize Its China Opportunities?
EU Should Fulfil Role of True Strategic Partner
Time for Real Change, Not to Shortchange
French Support for Silk Road Initiatives
EU Controls on Dual-Use Tech Exports Too Tight
Western Politics Distorts Image of China
Chinas New Road Began in Small Village
West Has Spurned Putins Peace Gesture
Let Words of Conflict Be Put to Rest
Deepen Ties Through Nation-Province Pairing
Belgiums Mixed Signals to China
A Loose Grasp of a Changing World
EU Cannot Afford to Miss out on Bank
Egypts Capital Idea Is Bold and Innovative
Rude Shock, and No Breakfast, on a High-Speed Train
The 100-Minute Countdown to an Apocalypse
A Road by Any Other Name
Stolen at Knifepoint： a Sense of Safety
PMs Choice： New Ideas or Political Death
Greeces Path Is Neither Left nor Right
A Time to Act, a Time to Stick Together
Election at Risk of Becoming a Greek Tragedy
Silk Road Initiatives Not Simply About Trade
Tusk Should Prioritize Building Bridge with China
New Jobs Rising from Chinas Smog
The Gap Between EU Ambitions and Reality
West Needs to Recognize Chinas Green Leadership
Juncker Follows in Footsteps of His Hero
EU Needs Change of Approach to Be Green Leader
Weighing the Van Rompuy Years of EU
Courtesy, Not Confrontation, Best for Europe
China Needs More Creative Input in Education
Let Everyone Feel the Joy of Paid Vacation
Beijing Expectant Over Change at EU Helm
Voters of the EU Send out a Wake-Up Call
An Outline That Can Make a Big Difference
Time to Nip Trouble in the Bud
Cameron Scores Big in Media Sphere
Disappointing Outcome to Climate Talks
Finding a Hotel Room in Davos Challenges Me
Spending a Pretty Penny Can Be Confusing
內容試閱：
Silk Road Initiative
Fit into EU Recovery Goals
In recent years, the West has urged Beijing to shoulder more global responsibility, and since the 2008-09 financial crisis, these demands have become ever more insistent. But when Beijing offers its solutions to the world, other powers are inclined to simply turn the other way.
The latest episode of this happened when the European Commissions new president, Jean-Claude Juncker, held his first meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Brisbane, Australia.
If the published reports are to be believed, Juncker, whose main priority should be to drive growth by expanding investment, failed to even mention the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road when he met Xi, even though China and the European Union had decided, when Xi was in Brussels early this year, to work together on the matter. Indeed the Brisbane tete-a-tete is not even mentioned on the EC presidents website.
Xi made public the Silk Road Economic Belt Initiative in Astana, Kazakhstan, in September last year and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road Initiative in the following month in Indonesia. Since then, China has gone all out to make it a reality. At home, every provincial region of the Chinese mainland has been asked to submit proposals on becoming part of this Eurasian ambition.
In October, Premier Li Keqiang explained the initiative at the Asia-Europe leaders summit in Milan. Shortly before the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Beijing in November, Xi even chaired a special meeting to discuss the Belt and Road Initiative, which is an effort to give impetus to China to invest and export overseas after decades of attracting capital and technologies inwardly.
During the APEC Economic Leaders Week, Beijing announced a contribution of $40 billion to the Silk Road Fund, after the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on October 24.
Though the Belt and Road Initiative is still in their formative stages, there is no doubt that they are one of the most decisive measures taken under the leadership of Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang. The initiative will directly affect 3 billion people in Asia and Europe and have drawn attention worldwide.
Unlike the United States when it drove the Marshall Plan into Europe decades ago, Xi said last September that the initiative is aimed at increasing the flow of trade, investment, capital, people and culture while focusing on infrastructure projects.
Juncker has outlined similar aims in a priority plan he announced before he took office at the beginning of this month, a plan aimed at strengthening the single EU market. His team has been working on his priorities for next year, including details of his proposal to mobilize 315 billion euros $393 billion of investment over the coming three years.
The EU is on the verge of slipping into its third economic recession in six years, and it is high time it started thinking laterally. Chinas Belt and Road Initiative can give it a fresh burst of enthusiasm even as it presses on with long-awaited structural reforms.
At the turn of this century, China decided to expand its opening and reform drive to the hinterland by implementing its go-west strategy. Nowadays when you consider the EU and its 28 member states, you could be forgiven for having an eerie sense of deja vu, for Europes eastern, central and southern regions lag behind those of the west and the north.
Just as the disparity in wealth between Chinese regions gave the central government the impetus to act to fix this, Europe now has similar reasons and opportunities in dealing with its economic disparities.
For example, some have talked of turning the geopolitically important Greek capital, Athens, into a Mediterranean shipping and financial center akin to Hong Kong or Shanghai.
Consider, too, the EUs rather modest ambitions to upgrade its infrastructure. It has less than 7,000 kilometers of high-speed rail and plans to extend this to 15,000 km by 2030. I say modest because it has had high-speed rail since the 1980s. China, on the other hand, said hello to the age of high-speed rail little more than six years ago, and now its high-speed lines run for 13,000 km, and by 2020 will stretch to 30,000 km.
In imitating Chinas plan, the EU needs to think ambitiously for example building a high-speed railway or highway to link Beijing, Brussels, Paris and even London.
These plans are not pie in the sky but utterly feasible. Beijing and Moscow have been working on plans to link to each other by high-speed rail, and Moscow is not far from central and eastern Europe.
But the EU, compared with its member states, is still conservative when it comes to expanding its relationship with China. It wants to conclude investment talks between China and the EU first. It is not even willing to start free trade agreement talks with China, which sharply contrasts with the EUs desire to quickly strike such a deal with the US.
However, the EU will have not just one but two great chances to put its cards on the table with China next year, when they meet at two summits. It may well be then that Chinas westward stare will meet Europes eastward glance, and the EU will then have some positive things for Beijings Silk Road projects.
2014.11.29
Landslide EU Vote Result
Is Less than It May Appear
On Thursday, the European Parliament passed a resolution refusing to treat China as a market economy. The resolution, which is not legally binding, is intended to help the European Commission, the EUs executive body, make a final decision.
Out of the members present, 546 voted against treating China as market economy, 77 abstained and only 28 members voted in favor. As a result, many hailed it as a landslide decision.
Despite the numbers, the vote is actually not convincing at all.
First of all, trade rules, anti-dumping and cost calculations are extremely technical and, to some extent, most European Parliament members are no different from passers-by on the streets in terms of their knowledge of the issues involved.
They are prone to be influenced by biased reports bear in mind one of the widely-circulated reports on this topic is from a think tank based in the United States and many of them have not set foot in China. They dont know the reality of the Chinese economy or that market-oriented reforms are still being advanced.
Second, European businesses, especially those investing and trading in China wont agree with the parliamentarians who voted against market economy status for China.
Of course, some European industries that are struggling may be happy about the voting. But statistics indicate that more than 80 percent of European businesses in China are profitable. If China is not a market economy, how are those European investors managing to survive, and indeed prosper, in the increasingly sophisticated market environment there?
Third, the voting result does not have to be accepted by the member states. Although there are no official figures, more than half of countries in the European Union, including the Nordic countries, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany, Luxemburg and those from central and East Europe are prepared to recognize Beijings market economy status.
This means if the decision is made on the basis of one country one vote, the result will be far different from that on Thursday.
Whats more, the majority of the members of the World Trade Organization have already recognized Chinas market economy status. Are the EUs criteria higher than that of Australia or Switzerland, for instance?
To be honest, the European Union is a fragmented market that needs harmonizing rules. The different member states have market economies of various degrees of sophistication.
Instead of closing its doors and imposing protectionism, the EU should recognize that more opportunities will occur as China continues to push forward its market-oriented reforms and open-up further.
Both sides should admit each others strengths and weakness with constructive, visionary and forward-looking attitudes.
All in all, the result of the European Parliaments vote is misleading and unconvincing. And if it is improperly taken as a key part of EU decision-making, the EU will take the wrong path.
2016.05.16
Back to Normal, But Still Much to Do
When I got out of a taxi and rolled my suitcase into Brussels-South railway station to get a train to London on April 7, two heavily armed soldiers patrolling the concourse looked me up and down, their hands resting on guns.
After the March 22 terror attacks in Brussels, I had thought Id have to pass through security checks for luggage before entering the gate of the station. But I found this was not the case.
The check-in and border control procedures were the same as my previous trips from Brussels to London. The only obvious difference was that soldiers and security guards were more evident in the arrival and departure halls. And they were fully alert.
Three weeks on from the terrorist attacks at Brussels Airport and a city subway station, life and business activities in this European capital have gradually returned to normal. The damaged airport reopened recently.
Security checks on luggage at the entrance to departure halls have been introduced at Brussels Airport since it reopened, but it is still unknown whether this is temporary or not. And people can enter subway and train stations and shopping malls freely without passing through security checks.
Brussels lowered its security alert three days after the blasts that killed 32 people, including one Chinese, although well-armed soldiers and police can be seen patrolling the city center.
Calling it the worst attack on the countrys soil since World War II, Belgian authorities fully know how serious and challenging the situation is. Like the French, the Belgians have learned a costly lesson.
It is daunting that nearly all of the embassies in Brussels and Paris have warned tourists and investors from their countries to be cautious when making decisions to visit France and Belgium.
Some Chinese researchers have begun to look into how the security situation in Europe will affect bilateral business activities. Preliminary figures may offer some relief. During the first three months of this year, the number of Chinese tourists in France dropped 7 percent year-on-year. Yet Chinas investment in France has still shown a steady increase.
Very likely it is the same with Belgium： More tourists will cancel their trips, but business activities will not be affected too much.
Within a week of the Brussels attacks, a Chinese businessman told me that he still plans to buy a big office property in downtown Brussels. He forecasts that prices will drop 10 to 20 percent on average in Brussels in the coming months.
A Chinese businesswoman I spoke with is also seeking to invest in a Belgian brewery, while a long-time Chinese investor in Brussels plans to organize an investment seminar to show his confidence in Belgium.
I believe there are many more such cases due to Belgiums geographic and geopolitical attractions.
Reassuring investors is an urgent task for Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
He canceled a scheduled trip to China when the attacks happened the day before he was due to fly. Of course, it would be rational for him to make the trip once the situation in his country is under control. This time, his mission will be convincing Chinese investors and tourists that similar attacks will not happen again.
The onus for that is not just in Belgium. The European Union must also clean house and ensure peoples safety if it is to help attract tourists and investment.
Belgian and European authorities must convince the world that EU countries are safe.
2016.04.13
Taking a Page from Europes Book
After holding intensive political meetings, engaging in lively exchanges with young football and ice hockey players, and signing cooperation documents during his visit to the Czech Republic from March 28 to 30, President Xi Jinping and his Czech counterpart Milos Zeman visited the 850-year-old Strahov Library in Prague. After being introduced by the museum curator to the collections on Chinese-Czech exchanges dating back 300 to 500 years, the two presidents stepped onto the veranda to get a birds-eye view of Prague while sipping their farewell beer.
Shortly after President Xi left for Washington to attend the Nuclear Security Summit, I too had the chance to visit the stunningly magnificent library, which consists of the Philosophical Hall, which houses the Czech-language collection on Confucius and the early comprehensive introduction to China, and the Theological Hall with stuccoes and paintings. The books on China, some of which are original manuscripts, were mostly written by missionaries during their stay in China or after their return home from China hundreds of years ago.
Jan Parez, curator of the librarys manuscript section who was responsible for preparing the items for President Xi, said the president has a deep understanding of and respect for Czech society and culture. Thanks to Parez, I had the privilege to visit the two halls, which are now open to tourists, and enjoy the panoramic view of Prague and soak in the glory of the place where the two presidents drank beer.
President Xi said it was a rare experience to see such a rich art and cultural treasure. Some journalists who reported Xis visit to the library on March 30 also called it the most beautiful library in the world. Indeed, the library is a symbol of knowledge and beauty, and carries a strong message.
Both presidents are extremely keen readers with a preference for books on history and civilization. And by saying that a long history and bountiful cultural heritage are the precious wealth of the Czech people, and that China is an ancient civilization with a history of more than 5,000 years, Xi highlighted the great potential for the two countries to learn from each other and expand their cultural exchanges after the establishment of a strategic partnership during his visit. And the two presidents know that increasing people-to-people and cultural exchanges is the key to laying a firm foundation for the development of bilateral relations.
During his visit to the Czech Republic, Xi promoted mutual cultural respect. But there was more to his visit than economic and cultural exchanges. Xi visited the Czech Republic shortly after China announced the 13th Five-Year Plan 2016-20. By the time the plan is completed in 2020, Chinas per-capita income is expected to reach $12,000, making it a relatively high-income country. Also, Xi has vowed to end extreme poverty in China by 2020.
Given these facts, one can say Xis visit to the Strahov Library also signifies his vow to offer enough public goods to those in need. And this is an area where Europe has a lot of experiences to offer to China; for example, it has already used the index of the number of books a child has access to at home to measure peoples living conditions in a region.
China needs to identify the poor and needy in the country, as well as build more libraries to allow children from poor families to have access to more books which can help them emerge out of poverty.
Going by European standards, building more cultural venues such as libraries, museums, theaters, sports centers and swimming pools should also be given priority, to help propel Chinas economic development and lift peoples incomes as well as living standards.
2016.04.08
Real Partnership with EU
Just Starts Unfolding
Two years ago, Xi Jinping paid his first visit to Europe as Chinas president. Apart from visiting four Western European countries and the European Union headquarters in Brussels, Xi also attended the Nuclear Security Summit at the Hague in the Netherlands.
And thanks to his state visit to the United Kingdom in October 2015, Beijing and London are set to herald a "golden decade" of strategic partnership. Xi also joined global leaders at the UN climate conference in Paris in December to help strike a deal to curb greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.
Xi paid a visit to the Czech Republic, his first to a Central or Eastern European country, from March 28 to 30 before flying to Washington to attend the fourth Nuclear Security Summit.
Other Chinese leaders, too, have visited European Union countries several times over the past three years, with their European counterparts paying reciprocating visits to China. These top-level visits have been accompanied by encouraging and diversified business deals and people-to-people exchanges.
But despite the positive developments, European friends still ask me why Beijing is busy deepening ties with EU member states while scaling up cooperation with nonmember countries in Central and Eastern Europe.
My answer is, China is doing the right thing by engaging with EU member states to help consolidate European integration.
Xi made it clear during his European visit in 2014 that China is determined to forge partnerships with countries for peace, growth, reform and civilization, which will help enhance the competitiveness of not only particular EU countries but also the EU as a whole.
Europe faces challenges on many fronts, from economic growth and terrorism to immigration and integration. And Chinas proactive and pragmatic EU policy can help the bloc overcome some of them, because Beijing is not only offering proposals and ideas but also following them up with concerted actions.
Although trade between China and the EU has been affected by the global economic slowdown, two-way investment is still going strong with Chinese investors targeting Europe as their first destination for mergers and acquisitions. Add to that a growing number of Chinese tourists are visiting and spending handsomely in EU countries and students choosing European universities for higher education, and the EU will have a promising picture.
Many EU member states have welcomed Chinas initiatives aimed at exploring win-win opportunities and shouldering more global responsibilities. For example, the UK is on its way to becoming Chinas best friend in the West and the Czech Republic has decided to scale up its ties with China to the strategic level.
Also, many EU countries have supported Chinas Belt and Road Initiative for better connectivity of infrastructure, trade and flow of personnel, and up to 20 European countries have joined the Beijing-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as founding members.
Looking back on these developments a couple of years later, we can term them historic and of great strategic importance.
However, we still need mega-ideas to make the world a truly peaceful and prosperous place. China has proposed and the Europeans have echoed many progressive ideas, though some Western powers have opposed them.
As a Czech politician said to me recently, China and its European counterparts are helping consolidate the economic foundation for Eurasian and African countries by cooperating in the Belt and Road Initiative, raised by China in 2013. This should be seen as the biggest achievement of the China-EU partnership over the past two years.
A real strategic partnership has just started unfolding.
2016.04.01
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