China and Europe: 1949-1995

A short but meaty account of Europe's relations with China, which concludes that the prospects for these relations are excellent, despite a few potential "hiccups" on the horizon, such as weapons sales to Taiwan. Since 1992 the European Union member states have trebled their trade with and investment in China, but in 1994 the EU had only a nine percent share of China's total foreign trade and only a four percent share of total foreign direct investment. On the question of China's entry into the World Trade Organization, Shambaugh says Europe stands with the United States in insisting that China meet a variety of standards prior to admission, but takes a different view than Washington in endorsing China's entry status as a "developing nation" in certain respects, giving it more preferential entry terms. He says that while the United States and the EU disagree about the status under which China can enter the WTO, they agree that bringing China into the WTO is a high priority.