EU must see China with fresh eyes

The next 18 months to two years will be a watershed period in relations between the European Union and China. At the end they will either be flying high or they will have failed to take off. There is a new European Commission whose dynamics and direction will be set in the coming months. Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom's perceptions will be crucial. If China is to get the attention it warrants - and deserves - Europe's institutions need fresh eyes.

At recent EU-China summits, Beijing has proposed, in various forms, an EU-China comprehensive partnership. But it takes two to tango. The EU has shown a marked reluctance to even go to the party, let alone dance. Brussels even rejected bilateral "scoping exercises" to establish levels of ambition on both sides for a possible future free trade agreement.

First, some will argue that the 2012 agreement to open negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty was a proxy for that commitment to future wider engagement. That would be to critically misread the situation. This decision was as much driven by narrow political calculation as it was by visions of burgeoning investment.