Key areas of Xi Jinping's European tour

Free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations will form another topic during Xi's visit. However, as the EU and the United States are negotiating a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) agreement, it's unlikely for the EU to fight on two fronts at the same time and start FTA negotiations with China.

It should be noted that both Europe and America are seeking to expand their global presence with the FTA strategy. By promoting FTA, the EU develops its trade and thus promotes its economic growth and employment. Recently, it has increased its interactions with Asian countries. After the EU-ROK Free Trade Agreement came into force in July 2011, the EU started negations with Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan. It is expected that the EU will continue to advance the momentum and push forward its FTA strategy across Asian markets.

China is vigilant in regards to European and American's FTA strategy and lacks willingness to start FTA negotiations with the EU. After all, there is huge gap between the Chinese and the EU market. Establishing an FTA agreement with the EU too soon would do China more harm than good. China has already signed FTA agreements with Switzerland and Iceland and FTA negotiations with Norway are in progress. This pilot cooperation can help China accumulate experiences for the future expansion of cooperation with potential European countries.

There's huge potential for a China-EU urbanization partnership. China hopes Europe will invest more in China's urbanization project and share its experience with China. The EU hopes China will further clarify its urbanization objectives and provide new business opportunities for EU companies. Therefore, during Xi's Europe visit, it is expected that the Chinese side will make a list of areas for cooperation, sign a series of agreements and develop a number of mechanisms to foster the exchange of experiences and joint projects between the two.

The recent developments in Ukraine are set to dominate the bilateral talks during Xi's Europe tour. Ukraine is one of the most important strategic partners of China; and both sides have carried out extensive cooperation in the infrastructure and agriculture sectors. Ukraine is also an important economic hub in China's new Silk Road economic belt project. Given the situation in Ukraine, the EU is bound to push China to enhance its coordination and cooperation with Europe and the America on the issue. But in view of the complexity of the situation in Ukraine, in order to protect its interests, China may still take a more balanced stance and promote peaceful negotiations.