Challenges and Opportunities for China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership——from the Perspective of Different Ideas inside the EU on the China-EU Comprehensive Strategic Partnership

Although the EU President Van Rompuy expresses the belief that the EU-China strategic partnership and the people-to-people friendship will continue to flourish,more and more European intellectuals express their doubts about the strategic partnerships of EU-China relations.The reasons for the doubts are firstly European scholars place more emphasis on the differences between China and EU in ideology and political system;secondly,they believe that the establishment of the strategic partnership between China and EU was the result of EU and its Member States having implemented an "unconditional engagement" with China;thirdly,a series of differences between China and the EU on issues like trade,Africa,climate change in recent years.However the different ideas towards China EU strategic partnership have caused the partnership to face challenges as well as significant opportunities for development.

GCC Countries’Future Relationship With the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation:Motivation and Prospect

The Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC)is the most important economic,energy and political coalition in the Middle East.The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation(SCO)is the most influential Eurasian political and economic bloc.In the vicissitude international situation,the SCO is expanding westward;Qatar and Saudi Arabia have become the partners of dialogue;Bahrain,Kuwait and the UAE have applied for being partners for dialogue.Likewise,the GCC is looking eastward,exploring cooperation with Russia within the framework of‘OPEC+’,with China in‘China-GCC Summit and China-GCC Strategic Dialogue’,and with India within the framework of I2U2(Israel,India,United States and the United Arab Emirates).The‘SCO+GCC+’cooperation mechanism is inclusive,compatible with the US,European and the NATO’s military engagement with the GCC,which will open a new ground for bilateral cooperation and multilateral interaction between East Asia,South Asia,Central Asia,North Asia and West Asia,conducive to building‘an Asian community of shared future’in the long run.

The China-Saudi Arabia(Jizan)Industrial Park under the Belt and Road Initiative

Saudi Arabia is the largest economy in West Asia and North Africa which plays an important role in politics,economy and other fields in the Middle East and the whole world.Since 2016,highlevel visits between China and Saudi Arabia are more frequent.China and Saudi Arabia have established a comprehensive strategic partnership and established a comprehensive,high-level and institutional cooperation platform-the China Saudi highlevel joint committee.Under the overall coordination of this mechanism,the economic and trade cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia,which focuses on energy sources,industrial cooperation,trade and investment is in an unprecedented period of strategic opportunities.The China-Saudi Arabia(Jizan)Industrial Park is a major investment project to deepen production capacity cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia.At present,it has made positive progress in communication and coordination mechanisms,infrastructure construction and introduction of enterprises into the park.Therefore,this paper argues that under the guidance of the Belt and Road Initiative,China and Saudi Arabia should accelerate the docking of development strategies,facilitate the construction of overseas industrial parks such as the Jizan Industrial Park,attract more investment of manufacturing enterprises from China and third market countries,endeavour to build the Jizan Industrial Park as a landmark project of practical cooperation between China and Saudi Arabia,boost the implementation of Saudi Arabia’s‘Vision 2030’,and promote the industrialization process of Arab countries.

China-Iran strategic cooperation agreement in the changing international system

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,the international political and economic system has changed dramatically.The Western powers are in decline,while the non-western Asian and Eurasian powers are rising.The three-century-long Western dominated international system is giving way to a mixed system with Global North and Global South playing predominant roles simultaneously.In face of the changing international system,China and Iran are promoting strategic docking,and their relations have been updated from the comprehensive strategic partnership in 2016 to the 25-Year Strategic Cooperation Agreement in 2021.This development demonstrates the resilience of China’s strategic partnerships in the Middle East,and is conducive to building a more balanced international system and fostering South-South cooperation.The updated Sino-Iranian relations is defensive,and it does not target any third party,nor does it change China’s non-alignment policy in the Middle East.It is conducive to promoting regional reconciliation between Iran and Saudi-led Arab countries.

The Governance of Cross-Border Data Flows in Trade Agreements:Is the CPTPP Framework an Ideal Way Out?

The regulations of cross-border data flows is a growing challenge for the international community.International trade agreements,however,appear to be pioneering legal methods to cope,as they have grappled with this issue since the 1990s.The World Trade Organization(WTO)rules system offers a partial solution under the General Agreement on Trade in Services(GATS),which covers aspects related to cross-border data flows.The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership(CPTPP)and the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement(USMCA)have also been perceived to provide forward-looking resolutions.In this context,this article analyzes why a resolution to this issue may be illusory.While they regulate cross-border data flows in various ways,the structure and wording of exception articles of both the CPTPP and USMCA have the potential to pose significant challenges to the international legal system.The new system,attempting to weigh societal values and economic development,is imbalanced,often valuing free trade more than individual online privacy and cybersecurity.Furthermore,the inclusion of poison-pill clauses is,by nature,antithetical to cooperation.Thus,for the international community generally,and China in particular,cross-border data flows would best be regulated under the WTO-centered multilateral trade law system.