Preface

The 6th Prime Minister Summit of China-CEEC was held in Budapest, Hungary on November 27, 2017, which marks the fifth year of China-CEEC cooperation. It is a Chinese tradition to have a small celebration on the fifth anniversary and a big celebration on the tenth anniversary, and those are good timings to sum up the work having been done. It is also necessary to summarize China-CEEC Cooperation in the latest five years. As the first sub-regional platform under the framework of China-EU cooperation,“16+1 Cooperation” has set an example with great significance. A systematic summary of the“16+1 Cooperation”achievements in the past five years will not only enhance the determination of China-CEEC Cooperation, but also identify the potentials, accumulate and share experience in many areas, and smoothly push forward further cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC).

As early as mid-2017, Huang Ping, the Director General of the Institute of European Studies of CASS and the Secretary General of the China-CEEC Think Tanks Network of CASS proposed the idea of summarizing the achievements of the“16+1 Cooperation” in the past five years into a report. After thoroughly discussion, a few key aspects are included in the report: under the framework of the“16+1 Cooperation”, how to promote the development of bilateral relations between China and 16 Central Eastern European countries (16 CEE countries), regional cooperation, China-EU cooperation, and the Belt and Road Initiative.

This report summarizes the achievements of the“16+1 Cooperation” in the past five years from the perspective of a think tank. The views expressed in this report are those of the authors alone and not the Chinese government. The report cannot be perfect even though we are trying to be, and it is open to the valuable comments from experts and scholars.

The report contains five chapters. Chapter I and Chapter V are written by Liu Zuokui;Chapter II is written by Guan Shilin and Zhao Weitao; Ju Weiwei is the author of Chapter III; Liu Zuokui and Ma Junchi are the authors of Chapter IV. The full report is edited by Liu Zuokui, and reviewed by Huang Ping.

China-CEEC Think Tanks Network

Liu Zuokui

December 7, 2017