WINDOWS OF OPPORTUNITY IN CHINA - CEE ECONOMIC RELATIONS

The Central and Eastern European countries (CEE) share an old, constant and strong friendship relation with China. Along the last decades, both China and CEE countries underwent tremendous changes following different paths to development. These changes, as well as the outburst of the global financial and economic crisis in 2007 followed by the European turmoil, shaped a completely new global economic environment for all the actors in the global scene. It also brought to surface the hidden flaws in each country’s own development model, shedding light on the untapped potential in their economic relations and opening new windows of opportunity. This paper looks at the bilateral trade and investment relation of China and the CEE10 countries (the EU members group), with a special focus on Romania-China economic relationship, laying stress on the opportunities and the road ahead.