understandings and trust between China and the EU. To be“institutionalized”refers
to the following: both sides developed a multi-tier, multi-player cultural exchange
mechanism covering extensive contents which had unprecedentedly expanded both
the scale and the scope of the relations; moreover, it formulated a long-term
cooperation plan to serve as an important“stabilizer”in China-EU relations.
Despite of the great achievements, compared with economics, trade and political
relations, the development of cultural exchanges would require more long-term
efforts as it is unrealistic to make changes only through one or two rounds of
cultural exchange activities. China and the EU should manage well the positioning
and execrations for a long term development of the cultural relations, due to the
variation between them as individual global players. Similar to the economics, trade
and political relations between China and the EU, the core of the China-EU cultural
exchanges is to establish higher level relations integrated by the EU among China
and EU member states.
This mean that the objective of the China-EU cultural exchange program is to
build a China-EU cultural exchange network between China and the“28 + 1”(28
EU member states and 1 EU institution) rather than replacing the respective culture
connection between China and each member state. Under this network, the Central
Government of China and the EU institution should not only provide a high-level
dialogue platform, but also render necessary services for program cooperation and
build up a multi-tier, multi-player long-term cooperation relation mechanism
between China and the EU. In this regard, an attempt was made by the“ 2012
China-EU Year of Cultural Dialogue”. During the execution of the program, the
main function of the Chinese Ministry of Culture and the EU Directorate General
for Education and Culture was integrating the existing resources of the program
rather than providing significant funding. Currently, both China and the EU intend
to enhance the China-EU Strategic Partnership through cultural exchange activities.
However, it is very difficult for the EU under existing institutional framework to
provide more input into China-EU cultural relations. According to data released by
the EU, the budget for“EU as a global player”programs only accounted for 6 % of
its total budget in the period 2007–2013, suggesting that the portion of the budget
dedicated to international cultural exchange activities was low.^5 Thus most of the
fund necessary for China-EU cultural exchange activities came from players at
various levels in the member states, while this funding structure determined the
position as mentioned above: China-EU cultural relations as “high-level plat-
form + program service”.
Currently, China-EU cultural exchange activities have been greatly improved in
terms of both quantity and quality. However, there are many factors that limit their
development and it is very difficult to make any breakthroughs in the short term.
The building of the China-EU cultural exchange program aims at boosting cultural
relations between China and EU member states through EU integration. After
(^5) Official website of the EU, http://europa.eu/about-eu/basic-information/money/expenditure/
index_en.htm.
4 “Cultural Exchanges”as a Pillar to the China-EU Relations 101