China and Central Europe: cooperation in difficult times during the Covid-19 outbreak

ABSTRACT The four Central and Eastern European (CEE) states, namely Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovakia, known as the Visegrad Group (V4), belong to the multilateral China-led 17 + 1 subregional platform that seeks to upgrade its members’ mutual economic and transportation infrastructure ties. This comparative case study traces the V4 states’ relations with China since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe and explores how far the existing multilateral format 17 + 1 was able to utilize its potential for strengthening China’s presence through healthcare cooperation to work together in fighting the pandemic. The findings reveal the prevailing bilateral ties being preferred over the institutionalized multilateral platform 17 + 1, a sustained ambiguity in the CEE states’ relations with China, and a poor coherence of the 17 + 1 format.