While relations between the EU as a whole and Beijing are set to worsen in 2024 with the Commission’s anti-subsidy probe into electric vehicle imports from China and adoption of further economic security measures, we might see signs of normalization of ties between select CEE countries and Beijing following two years of diplomatic ice age.

“As the EU has become more risk aware and assertive in its communication with China, an economic cooperation-based charm offensive is expected in its member states, including the CEE,” Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova says. China will thus continue to engage bilaterally with friendly CEE nations such as Hungary or Serbia, pulling away from a blanket approach to CEE, she explains.

Read the full newsletter below.