Issue Linkage:Green Belt and Road and European Green Deal
The increase in public health emergencies and various types of extreme weather have prompted human society to further think about the complex system relationship between human and the ecological environment.Countries around the world seek to realize a win-win situation for economic development and environmental protection through green development.China's Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal are both committed to promoting sustainable economic and social development,with overlapping geographic space and connotative areas.However,the existing literature mostly studies China's Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal from a single perspective,and there is a lack of literature on the relationship between China's Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal from the perspective of two-way interaction.This paper takes the Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal as the object of study,analyzes interactions between the two in different issue areas,and tries to establish tightly coupled issue linkages between the Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal,to open up a new analytical perspective for the existing research on the Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal.The study finds that the functional issues linkages between the Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal are established in the fields of global climate governance and biodiversity conservation.The economic issues linkages are established in the areas of clean energy technologies and market inter-matching,sharing energy transition experience,capacity building of carbon trading market,circular economy,digital technologies and costs,eco-city construction,CR Express,agricultural trade,etc.The substantive issue linkages are in the areas of global climate governance,biodiversity conservation,and agricultural trade(China-Europe Geographical Indications products only).Compared with the existing literature,this paper expands on the following two aspects:first,it explores the theoretical mechanism of tightly coupled issue linkages,and expands the previous literature on the Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal from dynamic perspective.Secondly,unlike the existing studies on issue linkages,which often focus on narrow national interests,this paper analyzes the dynamic cooperation process between China and the EU,and explores how to achieve a more mutually beneficial and long-lasting cooperation in the green cooperation between China and the EU with minimal and optimal issue linkages based on the keyelements and ultimate goals of the tightly coupled issue linkages.To a certain extent,the research in this paper presents the current situation and characteristics of the two-way interactions between Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal.Theoretically,it will help enrich the research results on issue linkage and provide new ideas for cooperation between Green Belt and Road and the European Green Deal.Practically,it will help governmental departments to formulate more targeted measures to match the strategies of China and the European Union,and provide China's program for building a clean and beautiful world together.
issue linkageGreen Belt and RoadEuropean Green Dealglobal climate governancebiodiversity conservation