I.Introduction

The China-CEEC Cooperation mechanism was created in response to the wishes and needs of China and Central and Eastern European Countries （CEECs）. It is a cross-regional cooperation platform oriented towards pragmatic cooperation. The platform has experienced leap-forward development from start-up to maturity. It is an important innovation of Chinese diplomacy and a key standing point for promoting the development of China-EU relations and the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative （BRI）. Over the past nine years since the establishment of the mechanism, fruitful cooperation outcomes have been recorded in the fields of economy, trade, investment, and people-to-people exchanges between China and the CEECs （See about Wu Bary, et al., 2021;Liu ZuoKui, 2020a;Liu ZuoKui, 2020b）.

There have been many empirical studies on the development process and prospects of China-CEEC Cooperation, but whether the cooperation path can be theorized with Chinese characteristics has always been a matter of concern to all parties. Exploring the theorization of China-CEEC Cooperation will not only help the academic community to deeply understand the nature, potential, and innovation of the Cooperation, highlighting Chinese practice and narrative, but also help to clarify some misunderstandings regarding the Cooperation, and shape the international community’s rational perception of the Cooperation. During the 30th collective study of the Political Bureau of the 19th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out that “it is necessary to accelerate the construction of Chinese discourse and Chinese narrative system;to explain Chinese practice with Chinese theory;to perfect Chinese theory with Chinese practice;to create new concepts, new categories and new expressions that work both in Chinese and foreign contexts;and to present the Chinese story and the ideological and spiritual power behind it more fully and distinctly[2].”d Then, what kind of theory with Chinese characteristics can China-CEEC Cooperation breed? This is the question that the article aims to address.