China's Offensive in Europe

by Philippe Le Corre Senior Fellow, Asia Socie, Alain Sepulchre

Overview

A portrait of China’s new economic passion toward Europe.

For years China’s international investment interests focused on a search for natural resources in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Recently China’s focus has shifted to Europe as well as the United States, and to new fields as diverse as real estate, energy, hospitality, transportation, and heavy industry.

Chinese foreign investment is expected to grow throughout Europe in the years to come. For instance, the financial crisis centered in Greece and the fall of the euro have helped China and some of its corporations create a new partnership within the European Union, working to expand the country’s power through finance and infrastructure.

China’s Offensive in Europe studies the trends, sectors, and target countries of Chinese investments in Europe. It looks at cases of outbound investment trajectories and journeys by some key Chinese private and state-owned companies. It also takes a look at European perceptions of China, a country with a very different history and very different traditions from the Western world.

Philippe Le Corre and Alain Sepulchre examine how China’s presence in Europe can serve as a benchmark to other developed economies—especially the United States, which is also seeing a rise in Chinese investments.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780815727996
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	05/17/2016
Series:	Geopolitics in the 21st Century
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	200
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Philippe Le Corre is a visiting fellow in the Foreign Policy Program at the Brookings Institution, where he specializes in China-Europe relations. He is also an Adjunct Lecturer at Johns Hopkins University. His articles have appeared in Foreign Affairs, Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Le Monde and Wall Street Journal. He is a former foreign correspondent in China and served as senior adviser to the French Minister of Defense. He also acted as a consultant and lecturer in China for several multinational companies.

Alain Sepulchre is a senior adviser with BCG in Hong Kong, formerly with McKinsey Company. He specializes in M&A activities for Chinese companies abroad. He is also a lecturer at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Paris-Dauphine University. He was previously a senior executive with energy group Total in China for 15 years.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xvii

Introduction: Europe as a Strategic Priority 1

1 China's Entry into the European Market, 1985-2015: First Steps 11

2 Spreading the Tentacles, Opportunistically 41

3 A New Kind of Multinational Corporation 65

4 Great Stretches in Chinese Finance 83

5 The Challenges of Acculturation 99

6 China in 2016: Between Business and Politics 115

7 China's Perfectible Image: Building Soft Power and Communication Skills 129

8 China and the Global Village 149

Notes 155

Selected Bibliography 167

Index 171

Editorial Reviews

From Beijing’s involvement in the Greek financial crisis to the grand "One Belt, One Road” project to link China with Europe, we are seeing the early steps on what is sure to be a fascinating and historically significant journey for which Le Corre and Sepulchre have provided an indispensable guidebook.
—Robert Kagan, Brookings Institution and author, Of Paradise and Power:
America and Europe in the New World Order

Le Corre and Sepulchre succeed in exposing a fairy tale. From the energy sector and transport and telecommunications to even buying up Pizza Express, China has thus huffed and puffed to gain an "in” to the EU’s gingerbread house.
—Karel De Gucht, former European Commissioner for Trade

This book could not come at a better time. Chinese investment into the EU rose by 40% in 2015, China’s steel overcapacity has forced the recent closure of three plants in Britain, and ChemChina is in the process of the largest overseas acquisition by a Chinese company. A timely must-read.
—Jörg Wuttke, President, European Union Chamber of Commerce in China

The authors have unearthed fascinating new details of China’s rapidly expanding economic footprint across Europe that will come as a surprise to most readers. This excellent volume should be read by everyone who needs to know about China’s growing global role.
—David Shambaugh, George Washington University, and author of China Goes Global: The Partial Power

Le Corre and Sepulchre have done an excellent job describing and analyzing the European investment dimension of "globalization with Chinese characteristics.” Their book is current and timely, informative and reasoned, and perceptively thoughtful.
—Robert B. Zoellick, former President of the World Bank, U.S. Trade Representative, and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State

From the Publisher