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Cary Huang
SCMP Columnist
Cary Huang
Cary Huang

China's burgeoning central and eastern Europe ties are useful check on power of US and Russia

Beijing pledges tens of billions of dollars in aid and trade deals as it looks to expand its influence across one of the most important continents

"Welcome aboard China's train of development!" That is what China's leaders told their foreign counterparts recently.

On Wednesday, heads of governments from 16 central and eastern European (CEE) nations experienced just that as they boarded the mainland's most advanced bullet train on the sidelines of the China-CEE summit in Suzhou .

The fourth annual summit underscored this point as China pledged tens of billions of dollars of investment and aid, and signed major cooperation agreements with every country from the region. Among them were rail-link deals between China and Hungary and Serbia.

Read more: China puts links with central and eastern Europe on the fast track

Long regarded as being on the periphery of Russia, central and eastern Europe is an intermediate zone between Russia and the West in the post-Soviet era as a result of many former Soviet satellite states' accession to Nato and the European Union.

However, the sovereign debt crisis in western Europe and the Russian economic stagnation has provided a window of opportunity for China to scale up its economic presence there.

China's cooperation initiative is non-political as it focuses mainly on bilateral economic cooperation, while most nations have tried to downplay the political and strategic elements to avoid any possible diplomatic controversy.

State media emphasised the economic significance of such cooperation. Xinhua news agency said the economies were highly complementary in nature and countries should focus on "pushing for deep, pragmatic cooperation".

Under the headline "New opportunities amid cooperation between China, CEE countries", the said cooperation would help CEE nations to upgrade their infrastructure and facilities, while China would benefit from exporting its overcapacity.

Beijing sees China-CEE cooperation as a demonstration of China's "new diplomacy", proposed by President Xi Jinping , who wants to create a new identity for the world's second-largest economy as major power in the new era. With its rising clout and influence, China has become more widely and deeply engaged with cooperation with nations far from its territory. Xi said China would "play its role of a responsible major power".

However, Russia and the West have reasons to suspect China's strategic and geopolitical motivation in the region, over fears its ambitions are not limited only to economic concerns.

Nor will China be that deferential to the interests of its erstwhile partner, Russia, when the interests of the two conflict.

From the start, the EU has warned that the China-CEE cooperation mechanism should not form some sort of alliance. It fears that the EU's CEE members will form a sub-group with a different attitude towards China, weakening Brussels' appeal and preventing the EU's external policies from having consistency.

For non-EU states, the China-CEE mechanism will be an alternative option, as joining the EU is difficult at a time when its enlargement is going badly.

Washington fears China's geopolitical presence and influence in the region will have a direct impact on the magnitude and vitality of US relations with countries there.

Indeed, China is gaining political influence and beginning to reshape the geopolitics in the region. Such influence will inevitably come at the expense both of Russia and the West.

Beijing knows closer China-CEE links will help it make inroads in Russia's backyard and strengthen its place in the world's most influential continent. It also sees these ties as a useful check on US President Barack Obama's "Pivot to Asia" diplomacy, which China's strategists regard as a conspiracy to contain its rising power.

China-CEE cooperation is all part of China's "major power" and "new diplomacy" efforts to help revitalise the Middle Kingdom.

This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as: Beijing on track to check US and Russian power in Europe
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