How could China's Assistance to Italy and Spain throughout the Coronavirus Pandemic Help China Increase Its Cooperation With the European Union?

Sammanfattning

The world was seriously affected by the outbreak of the Coronavirus pandemic. The research question of the thesis is: "How could China's assistance to Italy and Spain throughout the Coronavirus pandemic help China increase its cooperation with the European Union?". This paper will analyze how Covid-19 created an opportunity that Xi Jinping used to strengthen his country's relations with the European Union. Also, it will present China as a state that wants to cooperate with other states and is ready to help anyone in case of an emergency. The research question was studied through the theoretical lenses of neoliberalism and two of its concepts - complex interdependence and soft power. The method that was utilized is textual analysis because it helped identify China's messages in the country's intensive public diplomacy during the pandemic. The conclusion is that China successfully used the window created by the pandemic to deepen its strategic partnership with the European Union.