Europa Środkowo-Wschodnia wobec Chin. Win-win czy oportunistyczni klienci?
Central-Eastern Europe and China. A win-win deal or taking advantage?

Summary/Abstract: China pursues the tactic of offensive political mercantilism towards the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, participating in a 17 + 1 format, and its decisions on the level of engagement with a given country are subject to political-economic rationality, favouring countries along the ‘One Belt, One Road’ route. Beijing seeks to strengthen its position by undermining the EU’s internal cohesiveness and normative power on trade and industrial standards, and making it difficult for the EU to take a critical stance towards the Chinese authorities’ policies. The PRC remains a marginal investor in all countries in the region belonging to the EU, as the Union meets most of their investment needs. Scepticism about the prospect of economic cooperation with China has intensified in the EU and NATO member states of the region, as 70% of investments have gone to the five Balkan states that are not members of the EU, and most of the remaining 30% have been allocated in Poland and Hungary. The Hungarian and Polish governments, in conflict with the EU, are trying to balance their internal EU position with closer ties to Russia and China, while supporting the EU and NATO’s stance towards China. Poland’s room for manoeuvre is limited by the threat from Russia, with which Beijing remains in a strategic anti-Western alliance: it takes into account Russian interests in the region, avoiding involvement in Moscow’s conflict with the US or over Ukraine. For the countries on NATO’s eastern flank, American security guarantees are of fundamental importance, and the US-Chinese conflict, which the EU has joined in the sphere of standards for economic cooperation and international relations, affects the reserved attitude of most countries in the region towards the PRC. Following the completion of the ‘One Belt’ project in Europe, political factors are expected to weaken in further development of China’s economic cooperation with Poland and other countries in the region, which means that they will remain at a relatively low level.

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