Research On The Trade Cooperation Potential Between China And The Central And Eastern European Countries

Under the "One Belt One Road" initiative,the Central and Eastern European countries are China’s important trading partners inside the “17+1” cooperation mechanism,bilateral trade has been revealing an ever-increasing growth tendency,but it also faces many problems and challenges.Therefore,it is necessary to study the trade potential,problems and countermeasures for the economic and trade cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe.The present paper makes reference to regional cooperation theory,asymmetric cooperation theory and gravity model theory,and by basing itself on the analysis of the historical development and main problems of China’s economic cooperation with the Central and Eastern European countries,selects a panel data covering bilateral trade from 2002 to 2017,then uses the Export Specialization Index,Intra-Industry Trade Index and Trade Complementarity Index to measure the competitiveness and the complementarity outcomes of China and the Central and Eastern European countries.Furthermore,by constructing a stochastic frontier gravity model and trade inefficiency model,the paper analyses China and Central and Eastern European countries’ trade potential and the effects of non-efficiency factors.Four conclusions were drawn:(1)The problem of asymmetry in China and Central and Eastern Europe’s trade cooperation is significant;(2)There is a lack of diversity in bilateral trade structures;(3)Bilateral trade efficiency is low and the market potential development is uneven;(4)Government effectiveness is low and maritime transport connectivity is inadequate.Finally,four policy proposals are put forward to promote the economic cooperation between China and Central and Eastern Europe:(1)China’s trade cooperation with Central and Eastern Europe needs to move towards a more balanced development,bilateral efforts should be made to improve trade asymmetries and regional differences in trade and investment,and to promote multilateral cooperation among CEEC;(2)Enrich the industrial trade structure of bilateral trade and promote the further expansion of markets’ potential in order to increase the growth of bilateral trade;(3)Bilateral cooperation should focus on optimizing the current trade transport channels,promote successful cooperation cases such as the port of Piraeus between China and Greece,and deepen the cooperation on trade connectivity channels;(4)Both economies should conscientiously ponder over the problems and past experiences in trade cooperation,improve and implement relevant bilateral tradepolicies,strengthen the partnerships between government agencies,and improve the cooperation mode inside the "One Belt One Road" and "17+1" frameworks,jointly explore a cooperation system in line with the true national conditions of both sides,and therefore to balance bilateral political interests and market needs.