Austria’s Political and Economic Relationship with China 1989–2019

Politically and economically, Austria focuses heavily on Europe, in particular on Germany and the Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries. Nevertheless, Austria was one of the first West European countries to established diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in May 1971. Political relations between Austria and China, 1989–2019, were generally good, but sometimes the relationship got seriously disturbed. Economic relations with China lagged behind in the beginning, due to Austria’s focus on European markets and to the fresh opportunities in the nearby CEEs after the fall of the Iron Curtain but caught up later.

Keywords: China, Austria, economy, political relations