Who would have expected such a negotiating objective in the talks between China and the European Union ten years ago: a shared commitment to a multi-lateral world order with the United Nations as a common intermediary, and a ” Yes ” for the Paris climate agreement? Now, both has a good chance to be in a final Declaration at the end of the EU-China summit in Brussels.

as a result of a shift in the global interests between the two sides, surprisingly enough, acts a second aspect of their fundamental falling. Such an agreement would be excluded between the traditional partners-the United States and Europe almost, because the American President says the climate agreement to be obsolete, and is not ready to be moderation, try to bend at the UN.

non-negotiable differences

Nevertheless, one must warn against the Illusion that China and the EU are closer than Europe and the United States. The Regime in Beijing is neither to Western notions of the rule of law, democracy and separation of powers. The political differences between the two are non-negotiable. But here, too, the old principle of the Brandt Ostpolitik of the Seventies of the 20. Century. To wait with the approach, until a change occurred, not only a standstill, but step back. Only the approach by itself can lead to change.

And the economic links between the two sides are now so strong that they have become, both for China as for Europe and especially for Germany and France – in a substantial way. No page is set due to a dispute about the possessive nature of the silk road, or the Chinese purchasing policy in European key industries.

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ordering is the contrary: the distance to The Trump policy with the wrecking ball unites Brussels and Beijing. Both sides have learned the way of the smooth handling of such differences. A disruptive Either-Or in the relationship there will be hardly any. And for the economy of both sides, the realization that it is better to be 50 percent does not apply to 100 percent.