| Africa is a land of blessed natural resources and immeasurable potential.European states'history in the continent has forged its current overarching influence in Africa,not until the China's rapid-growing presence in Africa has caught the EU's attention.Felt by the pressure of booming China-Africa political and economic relations and in response to China's activities in Africa,the EU has increasingly engaged with China in African affairs.The trilateral development cooperation proposed by the European Committee is a brand-new start.The trilateral cooperation has become a new and promising dimension for EU-China relations.The EU is amongst the world's great powers,and its unique high level of political and economic integration makes it an important balancing power in the world.The trilateral cooperation is a trial for China's diplomatic capacity to cooperate with a major power and African countries at the same time.Such a "South-North-South" cooperation responds to the concept of Shared Future of Mankind proposed by President Xi Jinping,and is a significant move for China's commitment to actively participate in the global governance system and fulfill its responsibility as a great nation.Understanding the origins,policy approaches,global significance,the latest development,and dynamics of EU-China-Africa cooperation is of great importance.The study comprehensively analyzes and evaluates trilateral cooperation projects and to see where the obstacles lie on the way to a successful collaboration.The research has found that EU-China-Africa development cooperation proposed by the European Commission stagnated at the concept level for over a decade.In recent years,some EU member states(UK,Germany,France,etc.),have cooperated with China and Africa on small scale in specific areas and have yielded fruitful resultsThe cooperation between the EU and China in Africa has many common interests in trade facilitation,infrastructure,agriculture,industrial restructuring,and security.These areas are all essential for the development of Africa.Fundamentally different development assistance model and security norm between the EU and China,coupled with competing interest in African continent,have proved to be the major obstacles to the actual progress of trilateral cooperation.It is clear that internal inconsistency has been a major characteristic in the EU's position towards China's presence in Africa.Especially in the EU-China development cooperation,conflicted visions within the EU institutions(the European Parliament,the European Commission,the Council of Europe)making the prospect of cooperation more uncertain.However,there are some interesting development worth noticing:while the EU struggles to engage with China,some member states have already moved one-step ahead.UK,France and Germany have established formal cooperation partnership with China on development assistance and trade facilitation cooperation targeting African countries featuring a pragmatic and result-oriented cooperation model.Individual member states' activeness and successful engagement with China may be the result of their less normative approach and more pragmatic goal than the EU,and benefits are more tangible.It can be seen that EU's principles of promoting democracy,good governance,and citizen welfare in the world is part of its normative strategy and is an important guideline of the EU's internal and external policies.China is still regarded as EU's competitor in Africa to a certain extent.Whether the EU further cooperates with China largely depends on whether China is willingly to integrate into Western-led cooperation framework.For the EU,the motivation for participating in this trilateral cooperation is still that political interests outweigh common interests.There are huge differences within the EU on how to engage with China in Africa.It is clear that the UK,France,and Germany are more pragmatic in their collaboration with China.The motivation for China to participate in the trilateral cooperation with the EU and Africa is to facilitate long-term Sino-African partnership,while at the same time establishing itself as a responsible global actor.Africa still has doubt about the EU's underlying intention for the initiation of this trilateral cooperation,thus its attitude towards it has been overall passive.African leaders failed to reach consensus on a unified standard and model for cooperation within Africa,so their enthusiasm is not high.The challenges faced by China and the EU on the trilateral cooperation with Africa is mainly manifested in the failure of finding a common method and concept,as well as striking a balance between short-term national interest and sustainable triple win cooperation.How to combine business and political interests with African interests in long-term and short-term development is a dilemma presented in front of the EU and China.The EU and China should negotiate on their respective policy differences in African affairs,and the two need to adapt to the tension caused by competition.As such,Sino-European cooperation in Africa need to both consider common and competitive interests,the reality of globalization and the need for sustainable development in Africa.It also requires the AU to live up to their responsibility for African development when formulating its cooperation agenda.A common effort is still needed before actively promoting cooperation.In the past few years,the relationship between the EU and Africa has been redefined and a commitment to a stable partnership has begun.China has also reconsidered its strategies and policies on African issues.It is imperative to coordinate the implementation strategy and develop common intentions by formulating practical measures without prejudice to respective interests and maintain a competitive economic environment.For the EU and China,commercial interests and energy security have a great impact on their policies in Africa.China and the EU have common interests in Africa's development issues,especially the economic interests influenced by direct and indirect security risks in Africa.The challenge not only affects China,the EU and Africa,but also global interests in terms of global safety and stability,energy and environmental security,good governance,soft infrastructure,and the coordination of economic growth and sustainable development.The EU,China and Africa must adhere to the goals of mutual benefits and win-win cooperation in addressing international affairs,thereby promoting the development of common interests and global governance.The future trilateral cooperation between China and Africa should still be based on pragmatic common interests,which will bring benefits to all parties especially to Africa.Respecting Africa's position and focusing on sustainable development in cooperation need to be underlined.As China's proposed principle of "Africa proposes,Africa consents,Africa leads" should be the pre-condition for trilateral cooperation.In areas with most ideology gaps,building cooperation under a mature and recognized multilateral cooperation framework is a pragmatic solution to the dilemma,noted by the security cooperation between China,EU,and Africa under the UN framework.This study has concluded that only pragmatic collaboration based on mutual trust can lead to triple win cooperation.Albeit emphasizing differences between the three partners,this paper is generally optimistic about the prospects of EU-China-Africa cooperation.It is hoped that through this research,three partners will be united in action,overcome obstacles,and jointly enter a new era of "South-North-South" partnership. |
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