According to previous research on the Chinese perception of the European Union (EU),(H. Zhou & L. Dong, The Investigation and Preliminary Analysis of the Chinese Public Perceptions of the EU and China-EU Relations, 2 Eur. Stud. (2008); H. Tang, Under the Adjustment of EU-China Relations the Chinese People’s Concept of the EU, 4 Foreign Aff. Rev. (2012).) Chinese primarily acquire their knowledge of the EU from the media, which renders it difficult for them to comprehensively understand its operational mechanisms or take a sanguine view of the EU. However, their perception of the EU recently has undergone a noticeable transformation due to the ‘perception imbalance’ and ‘perception deficit’ which can sometimes lead to negative impressions, especially during the period of trading disputes. Impressions that Europeans are arrogant and discriminate against China lead to a diminution in Chinese public’s confidence and enthusiasm in the EU. This article analyses findings of two surveys conducted in 2013 and 2016 among university students from five main universities in Chengdu of their perception of the EU. It comes to the conclusion that, although holding optimistic views on the EU-China relations at large, respondents concurrently express a concern for the in-depth strategic partnership between the EU and China, for the EU’s competence to tackle its internal challenges, and for the EU’s legitimacy to persuade other international agents into following its model of regional integration.
European Foreign Affairs Review