Conclusions and outlook

Richard Pomfret

Chapter 8 in Connecting Europe and China, 2026, pp 144-153 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: The book's final chapter assesses the prospects of the Middle Corridor and its role in EU–PRC relations. The EU position that China is a partner for cooperation, economic competitor and systemic rival sets up a difficult balancing act, especially in an era of soundbites and simplified policy debates. Nevertheless, nuance is an appropriate component of complex relations between two major players in the global system, both of which include a mix of interest groups. Persistence in pursuing transport connectivity is a significant element of EU–PRC cooperation, to be combined with caution over links with a systemic rival. Responding to economic competitors is best done by maintaining an open economy rather than by retreating into protectionism.

Keywords: European Union; China; Cooperation; Competition; Rivalry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035361694
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.elgaronline.com/doi/10.4337/9781035361700.00014 (application/pdf)
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 403 Forbidden

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:elg:eechap:24599_8

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.e-elgar.com

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from Edward Elgar Publishing
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Jack Sweeney ().