Internal tensions and economic opportunities: explaining the heterogeneous stance of EU Member States towards the Belt and Road Initiative

• Author: Antonio José Pagán Sánchez
• Position: PhD candidate in International Relations at Nankai University (Tianjin, China) and the City University of Hong Kong
• Pages: 386-403

www.reei.org

REEI, núm. 40, diciembre 2020

DOI: 10.17103/reei.40.13

INTERNAL TENSIONS AND ECONOMIC

OPPORTUNITIES: EXPLAINING THE

HETEROGENEOUS STANCE OF EU MEMBER STATES

TOWARDS THE BELT AND ROAD INITIATIVE

TENSIONES INTERNAS Y OPORTUNIDADES

ECONÓMICAS: EXPLICANDO LA POSTURA

HETEROGÉNEA DE LOS ESTADOS MIEMBROS DE LA

UE RESPECTO A LA NUEVA RUTA DE LA SEDA

ANTONIO JOSÉ PAGÁN SÁNCHEZ*

Summary: I. INTRODUCTION. II. BRI: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES FOR

THE EUROPEAN UNION. III. COOPERATION OPPORTUNITIES, EU INTERNAL

TENSIONS AND STATE MEMBERS´ BEHAVIOUR. IV. THE BIG CONSEQUENCE OF

DIVERGING POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS: LACK OF COHESIVENESS.

V. CONCLUSIÓN

ABSTRACT: The European Union is one of the key destinations of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI),

officially announced by Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013. Nevertheless, the EU has mixed feelings

about it: while recognizing the initiative’s capability to foster economic growth, it is still reluctant to

participate, regarding the BRI as a challenge to European unity, norms and values. Regardless of the official

stance of the European Commission, the EU member states have adopted a wide range of heterogeneous

stances towards the BRI, ranging from an enthusiastic acceptance of the initiative to a refusal to join it. This

paper will shed light on the driving factors behind this wide range of attitudes towards the BRI, focusing

not only on the economic opportunities posed by the initiative to the main memb er states, but also on their

relationship with the EU and the possible internal tensions with the European Commission. The joint

examination of these two variables will pro vide a better explanation of EU member states´ stance towards

the BRI than those analyses based merely on the explanation of economic factors. In fact, the main finding

of this paper is that political factors outweigh the economic ones: there is no correlation between the

economic opportuni ties offered by the initiative and the support it gets from b eneficiary member states,

while internal tensions inside the EU are encouraging some member states to join the initiative even though

there might not be many economic benefits granted by their participation.

RESUMEN: La Unión Europea es uno de los destinos clave de la Nueva Ruta de la Seda, anunciada

oficialmente por el presidente chino Xi Jinping en 2013. Sin embargo, la Unión Europea tiene una actitud

Fecha de recepción del trabajo: 10 de marzo de 2020. Fecha de aceptación de la versión: 9 de noviembre

de 2020.

* PhD candidate in International Relations at Nankai University (Tianjin, China) and the C ity University

of Hong Kong. apagansan2-c@my.cityu.edu.hk.

[40] REVISTA ELECTRÓNICA DE ESTUDIOS INTERNACIONALES (2020)

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DOI: 10.17103/reei.40.13

contradictoria hacia ella: aunque reconoce la capacidad de la iniciativa para fomentar el crecimiento

económico, es todavía reacia a participar, al considerarla como un desafío a la unidad, normas y valores

europeos. Independientemente de la postura oficial de la Co misión Europea, los estados miembros de la

UE han adop tado una amplia gama de posturas heterogéneas respecto a la iniciativa, yendo desde su

aceptación entusiasta hasta la negativa a participar. El presente artículo arrojará luz sobre los principales

factores detrás de esta variedad de actitudes respecto a la Nueva Ruta de la Seda, centrándose no sólo en

las oportunidades económicas ofrecidas por la iniciativa a los principales estados miembros, sino también

en la relación de éstos con la Unión Europea y las posibles tensiones internas con la Comisión Europea.

El análisis conjunto de estas dos variables aportará una mejor explicación de la actitud de dichos estados

miembros respecto a la iniciativa que aquellos análisis basados únicamente en la explicación de factores

económicos. De hecho, el principal hallazgo del artículo es que los factores políticos tienen más peso que

los económicos: no hay correlación entre las oportunidades económicas ofrecidas por la iniciativa y el

apoyo que recibe de los estados miembros, mientras que las tensiones internas dentro de la Unión Europea

están llevando a algunos estados miembros a unirse a la iniciativa independientemente de que su

participación no vaya aparejada a beneficios económicos considerables.

KEYWORDS: Belt and Road Initiative, European Union, China, Euroscepticism, International Cooperation

PALABRAS CLAVE: Ruta de la Seda, Unión Europea, euroescepticismo, cooperación internacional

I. INTRODUCTION

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) was officially announced by Chinese president Xi

Jinping in 2013. China has pledged to allocate US$ 1.25 trillion to the initiative by 2025,

involving a huge investment in infrastructures as part of a vision of ‘harmony, peace and

prosperity, and not a geopolitical conspiracy to change the existing international order’

1

.

Nonetheless, the European Union (EU), one of the key destinations of the initiative, has

mixed feelings about it: while recognizing the capability of the initiative to foster

economic growth, it is still reluctant to participate, regarding the BRI as a challenge to

European unity, norms and values.

However, the European Commission attempts to forge a common response to the Chinese

initiative have often resulted in the evident inability of the EU to produce a regional

strategy. This lack of cohesiveness among EU states´ stance towards the BRI is certainly

influenced by their diverging economic interests, but political considerations also stand

out in a moment in which the EU is facing internal and external challenges, such as

tensions in the transatlantic relationship with the USA, the refugee crisis and Brexit.

Among European governments, those frequently labelled as ‘populists’ have shown a

strong willingness to cooperate with China under the BRI framework, in sharp contrast

with the majority of Western European countries. Not surprisingly, those countries have

been at odds with the European Commission because of budgetary, legislative and/or

migratory reasons, and their enthusiasm for taking part in the initiative can be regarded

as part of a political message intended to stress that they are sovereign countries, in

contrast with an EU accused of endangering the national sovereignty of its member states.

1

CAMERON, F., “Can OBOR Bring the EU and China Closer Together?”, 2017. Available at «http://eu-

asiacentre.eu/pub_details.php?pub_id=209».