Interesting read.
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-24/china-could-be-the-biggest-winner-from-brexit
http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-06-24/china-could-be-the-biggest-winner-from-brexit
In reality, Europe has struggled to fulfill that ideal and has suffered for it. Persistent nationalism has repeatedly limited its ability to forge a common front on both trade and geopolitical issues.
Nowhere has this failure been more obvious than in Europe's relations with China. As a whole, the EU should in theory wield significant power in pressing Beijing to open its markets and play fair on trade. Instead, European nations have routinely squandered that advantage by competing with each other for Chinese investment and favors. Shortly after the U.K.’s Cameron fawned over visiting Chinese President Xi Jinping last year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel showed up in Beijing, seeking her own business deals. The opportunities for China to divide and conquer -- both to strike better bargains and to undercut complaints about its own market-distorting behavior -- will only increase now that Europe's second-largest economy has gone its own way.