EVALUATION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION’S CO-OPERATION AND PARTNERSHIP WITH THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA COUNTRY LEVEL EVALUATION Final Synthesis Report April 2007 Evaluation for the European Commission This evaluation is commissioned by: the Evaluation Unit common to: EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Directorate General for Development and External Relations Directorate-General This evaluation is carried out by: EGEval II EEIG Landis MacKellar was the team leader (and covering the trade sector), Markus Taube (trade and economic and social reform - graphs and data provided by THINK!DESK), Carsten Hüttche (environment), Serani Siegel and Liu Kaiming (governance, human rights and rule of law). The evaluation is managed by the evaluation unit who also chaired the reference group composed by members of the services (EuropeAid, DG Relex, DG Trade, Environment and ECOFIN and the EC Delegation in China) and the Embassy of China in Belgium The opinions expressed in this document represent the authors’ points of view which are not necessarily shared by the European Commission or by the authorities of the countries concerned. Any enquiries about this evaluation should be addressed to: European Commission/ EuropeAid/ Evaluation Unit Rue de la Loi, 41, Office: 03/83, B-1000 Brussels, Belgium, Email: [email protected] Full reports can be obtained from the evaluation unit website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/evaluation/eval_reports/country_region.htm Evaluation of EC Cooperation & Partnership with China, Final Synthesis Report Acknowledgements: The evaluation of the EC's engagement with a large country at a particularly dynamic stage of its development, and of its evolving relationship to Europe is challenging. In carrying out this work, we have been very fortunate in our partners. First thanks go to the Reference Group which served as steering committee for the evalua- tion. Ms. Alexandra Chambel of the Evaluation Unit, chair of the reference group, who managed this evaluation for the EC, was effective in keeping the process on track. In China, Delegation officials and major stakeholders from the Government of China, the business community, civil society, and partner international institutions were generous with their time and thoughts. Particular thanks go to Mr. Marcel Roijen from the Delegation for managing the Beijing end of the process. Two heads of the Delegation's Cooperation Sec- tion, Mr. Jose Bustamente and Mr. Nick Costello; Head of Delegation Mr. Serge Abou, and deputy Head Mr. Thomas Pulch were all highly supportive. Our thanks to all of you, and to the many more who cannot be mentioned here in the in- terests of brevity. i Evaluation of EC Cooperation & Partnership with China, Final Synthesis Report TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................................................................II ACRONYMS................................................................................................................................. VII 0. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY....................................................................................................... X 0.1. Purpose of the evaluation...........................................................................................................................x 0.2. Analysis and main findings.........................................................................................................................x 0.3. Conclusions..................................................................................................................................................xi 0.4. Recommendations ......................................................................................................................................xi 1. EVALUATION FRAMEWORK............................................................................................... 1 1.1. Introduction and scope...............................................................................................................................1 1.2. Evaluation Methodology ............................................................................................................................2 1.3. Data Collection and limitations.................................................................................................................1 2. CO-OPERATION CONTEXT.................................................................................................3 2.1. Economic transition and growth...............................................................................................................3 2.2. China as a global trade and financial power............................................................................................5 2.3. Government economic policies.................................................................................................................6 2.3.1. Government strategy...............................................................................................................................6 2.4. Other actors..................................................................................................................................................7 3. THE EC STRATEGY OBJECTIVES AND COHERENCE ..................................................9 3.1. Areas of EU- and EC-China engagement................................................................................................9 3.2. Intervention logic of the EC-China co-operation and partnership programme .............................18 3.3. Internal coherence of the cooperation and partnership programme................................................20 4. EVALUATION QUESTIONS................................................................................................ 22 5. SECTOR RELATED CONCLUSIONS................................................................................. 25 5.1. International economic integration (T) - The evaluators’ response to the Evaluation Question for the trade sector...............................................................................................25 5.2. Economic and social reform (S) - The evaluators’ response to the Evaluation Question for the economic and social reform sector ..........................................................................27 5.3. Environmentally sustainable development (E) - The evaluators’ response to the Evaluation Question for the environment sector:................................................................................29 5.4. Governance, rule of law, human rights (G) - The evaluators’ response to the Evaluation Question of the governance sector:....................................................................................31 5.5. Cross-cutting issues (X) - The evaluator’s response to the Evaluation Question regarding the integration of hinterland regions.....................................................................................33 6. SECTOR RELATED RECOMMENDATIONS.................................................................... 35 6.1. Recommendations for the trade sector..................................................................................................35 ii Evaluation of EC Cooperation & Partnership with China, Final Synthesis Report 6.2. Recommendations for the economic and social reform sector..........................................................36 6.3. Recommendations for the environment sector....................................................................................37 6.4. Recommendations for the governance sector.......................................................................................39 7. CONCLUSIONS RELATED TO SYNTHESIS EVALUATION QUESTIONS........................................................................................................................... 41 7.1. Mix of instruments and interventions (M) - The evaluator’s response to the Evaluation Question regarding the mix of instruments and interventions......................................41 7.2. Adapting to change (A) - The evaluator’s response to the Evaluation Question regarding adapting to change:..................................................................................................................43 7.3. Adding value (V): -The evaluation response to the Evaluation Question regarding adding value: .............................................................................................................................44 8. OVERALL ASSESSMENT..................................................................................................... 45 9. OVERALL RECOMMENDATIONS .................................................................................... 48 10. ANNEX 1: SOURCES OF VULNERABILITY – RISING INEQUALITY, WEAKNESSES IN GOVERNANCE, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, AND THE NEED FOR HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT................................................................................................................... 54 11. ANNEX 2: OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES AT GLOBAL LEVEL................................. 62 I. Asia level cooperation............................................................................................................................63 II. Regional level..........................................................................................................................................64 12. ANNEX 3: DETAILED FINDINGS – CONTRIBUTION TO INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC INTEGRATION