| The European Union’s cognition of the Belt and Road is strategically meaningful and influential to China,as well as a key factor considerably affecting China’s strategic choices and decisions.In terms of the future development of the Belt and Road,the EU’s awareness and reaction,and China’s response and interpretation are significant issues concerning the prospects and effectiveness of the initiative implementation.As the two major forces in the contemporary world,the biggest developed country consortium and the largest developing country nowadays,the EU’s strategic cognition and strategic collision with the Belt and Road would be a problem causing the global impacts.The EU’s understanding of the concept and layout of the Belt and Road,the perception of China’s rise,the acknowledgement of China’s international status,and the recognition of China’s role will directly impose the effect on the EU’s strategic decision-making about China and the future development of China-EU relations.Moreover,China’s derived awareness of EU’s strategic cognition also determines the China’s basic direction and the strategic choices for dealing with the cooperation and relationships between China and EU.The factors that influence EU’s strategic cognition are multiple.These factors are sourced from Europe,the EU as well as from the outside.They are derived from the traditional understanding about China in Europe,and the newly emerging and generated problems.They are caused by the inherent tradition and strategic "inertia" of the EU,and some of them are caused by various factors during the process of implementation and improvement of the plan.Therefore,the EU’s perception of the “Belt and Road” has experienced a staged and phased evolution from “cognitive ambiguity” to “cognitive pluralism” and then to “active participation”.From the perspective of the cognitive "evolution" in the process,each stage is accompanied by the EU’s debate and positioning of itself and the orientation of China.The cognitive transformation at each stage is enhanced and related to the effectiveness and efficiency of China’s strategic implementation.In view of above,this paper starts with the analysis of the geo-political and geo-economic position of the EU to the Belt and Road,and analyzes the EU’s basic understanding,strategic cognition and strategic response to the Belt and Road.On the basis of the analysis results,it discusses the realistic opportunities and strategic challenges faced by China and Europe in the process of Belt and Road cooperation under the background of China’s rise,European integration as well as the US strategic adjustment,followed by a further deep analysis and prediction of the Belt and Road and the prospects of the relationship between EU and China.In general,the EU’s strategic understanding of the Belt and Road is constantly changing,adjusting and evolving.The EU’s strategic response to the Belt and Road is targeted and strategic,and EU’s development of the relationship with China is principled,realistic and flexible.In the future development of the Belt and Road,China needs to attach great importance to the EU’s understanding with rational analysis,reasonable response and strategic reactions.In regards to the development of relationship between China and EU,China needs to keep the strategic strength and confidence,and set up the strategic plans.Only in this way can China avoid the misunderstanding about the policies with respect to the relations of China-EU,and the strategic misjudgment about the development plan.Additionally,it can lead the Belt and Road to be an important platform for improving the solid economic cooperation and expanding the deep strategy collaboration between China and EU. |
