What are the best strategies from an economic and political point of view for cooperating with China?

• Why is traffic a good metaphor for EU-China relations?
• What are the best approaches for cooperation?
• Which approaches don’t work?
• Why establishing good relationships is not only important for the Chinese side, but also for you
• What are the Challenges on the EU political level?

In any cooperation you need to have profitability for both sides. It has to be a win-win situation and it should never be one party colonizing the other party. It’s also very important that all parties try to explain to the other side like what their real objective is. sometimes this is difficult. sometimes the Europeans don’t want to really say “You know we just want to make money in China and then we get out” – but then frequently it doesn’t work in the end. On the other hand, there can also be Chinese politics that is unclear for the Europeans, like what is the real intention and what are the real needs behind policies. In summary, it is all about being very very clear about what do you want, what are your boundaries, what can you do, what can’t you do. If you’re clear about these things there won’t be an issue. If you make it complicated it will almost certainly be a disaster.

Dr. Victor Meijers is a scholar and a practitioner in law for DeHeng Civil Code N.V. based in The Hague, author and lecturer for Leiden University and other universities. His Chinese home base is a Tsinghua University in Beijing. He is an expert in corporate law, M&As, IPO. He has a very diverse client base, from listed companies, state leaders as well as innovative startups and pro bono cases.

Find out more about the speaker Victor Meijers on Linkedin.