Central Africa is a strategic issue for the European Union mainly because its resources are increasingly coveted by emerging powers, including China and India.

Although currency internationalization is predominantly a market-driven process, political aspirations are not to be neglected entirely, and since 2005, the Chinese government and the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) have certainly taken steps to promote the use of the Chinese renminbi (RMB) in international transactions.

The European Center of excellence for countering hybrid threats (Helsinki CoE) was set up as a platform for exchange of best practices between the EU and NATO through strategic discussions and exercises and as such it represents an important milestone in transatlantic cooperation in countering hybrid threats.

In the years 2014 to 2016, railway transportation of goods between Europe and China was growing at an astonishing pace of around 140% annually, the growth is expected to continue, reaching a planned 5,000 trains in 2020 (compared with 17 in 2011, 1,702 in 2016 and 3,673 in 2017)…

Chinese companies, such as State Grid Corp. of China, Three Gorges Corp, China Investment Corp. and others, has recently significantly increased their investments in the European energy sector. Beyond the “traditional” investments in generation capacities, such as renewables, coal and nuclear, Chinese actors also bought important shares of Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Distribution System Operators (DSOs).

Despite being the most populous country in the world, China has been able to produce enough food to cater the demand at home and to export abroad.