1st Edition

The Role of the European Union in Asia China and India as Strategic Partners

Edited By Bart Gaens, Juha Jokela Copyright 2010

    Establishing strategic partnerships is a key objective for the European Union. These partnerships provide frameworks for flexible and long-term cooperation with global and regional players. This book focuses on the EU's strategy toward China and India and explores ways of promoting a stronger and more versatile role for the EU in Asia. The volume examines the emergence of China and India as global powers and the implications for the EU's common policies and strategies. It focuses on the role of the EU within Asia in terms of its political, security-related and cultural impact in addition to economic presence, and it explores the interplay of the EU, China and India in global governance and in utilizing and promoting multilateralism, especially in the context of climate change and energy security. The contributors discuss avenues for the EU to pursue its interests in Asia and to achieve its objectives in global governance and multilateralism through partnerships with China and India, while retaining its special relationship with the United States.

    Introduction, Juha Jokela, Bart Gaens; Chapter 1 The EU–India–China Strategic Partnership and the Impact of Regional Constructs, Timo Kivimäki; Chapter 2 The European Union as an International Actor: Europeanization and Institutional Changes in the Light of the EU’s Asia Policies, Juha Jokela; Chapter 3 The Development of the EU’s Asia Strategy with Special Reference to China and India: Driving Forces and New Directions, Bart Gaens; Chapter 4 EU–India Relations: An Expanded Interpretive Framework, Stig Toft Madsen; Chapter 5 Thinking Clearly on Political Strategy: The Formulation of a Common EU Policy Toward China, Mikael Mattlin; Chapter 6 Sino-European Relations: From the Height to the Width, Zhang Tiejun; Chapter 7 China’s Evolving Approach to Multilateralism and Global Governance: Implications for the European Union, Gill Bates; Chapter 8 1The author is grateful to Gao Shan and Alex Luta for their research assistance during the writing of this chapter., Linda Jakobson; Chapter 9 Engaging the European Superpower: India and the European Union, Rajendra K. Jain; Chapter 10 The Ambiguities in the China–India Relationship, Claudia Astarita; Chapter 11 Conclusions and the Way Forward, Eija Limnell;

    Biography

    Dr Bart Gaens is Senior Research Fellow in the Global Security Research Programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs, Finland, Juho Jokela is Senior Researchers at the University of Helsinki, Finland, and Eija Limnell is a Visiting Researcher, at the University of Helsinki, Finland

    'Europe is an under-appreciated actor in Asian affairs, but this new study by leading specialists sheds much new light on the European Union’s perceptions, policy process and content, strategies and priorities for the region. It also shows how China and India are reacting to EU initiatives. A key contribution worth reading by scholars and policymakers alike.' David Shambaugh, George Washington University, USA '...this book is of important value for the international relations literature for which it can rightly be considered one of the cornerstones. It provides a valuable and comprehensive resource for students and researchers with an interest in international relations, European studies or Asian studies, as it successfully assesses the relations between the EU as an important global actor with a distinctive character and India and China as major emerging Asian powers.' Europe-Asia Studies 'With an impressive breadth of coverage and a multi-layered approach, the volume edited by Gaens, Jokela and Limnell provides a fresh and timely addition to understanding the EU-China and EU-India strategic partnerships in the light of their identity formations, mutual perceptions, and policy formulations in strategically important areas. Contextualized in historical experiences, ideational and political diversities, and varied norms of multilateralism and global governance, the book analyzes the rationales, evolution, divergences and convergences of the EU’s strategic partnerships with China and India... this volume represents an insightful addition to the burgeoning literature on the EU’s policies towards China and India and the relations between Europe and Asia. It is suitable for readers who are interested in these often understated new constructions of our world order.' Journal of Chinese Political Science