9 - China and ASEM: Strengthening Multilateralism through Inter-regionalism

Summary

In contrast to other inter-regional co-operation processes in which the European Union is involved (for example, EU-ASEAN, EU-Mercosur) the ASEM process developed an extensive approach to the challenges and perils of our times. This approach is based on two fundamental principles: 1. multilateralism, 2. regionalism. During the eight years of its existence, the co-operation among ASEM participants has become more intense than anybody could have expected in the middle of the 1990s. The thematic diversity of the co-operation is twofold: On the one side ASEM activities are part of the economic dimension of globalization. On the other side the process deals with the socio-political dimension of globalization. Since the dynamics of rising interdependencies are the most challenging aspect of globalization, the ASEM process can be understood as an answer to the challenges of a world which relies more and more on the co-operative interaction of all its inhabitants.

In February the Far Eastern Economic Review depicted the relationship between the People's Republic of China and the European Union as a “love affair” that drives business and trade. After the recent EUnification of Europe on 1 May, it was the Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao who visited the European Union as the first major world leader. Was Wen on a sentimental journey? On the occasion of his visit the President of the EU Commission Romano Prodi stated: “Both of us want a multipolar world in which we have many active protagonists. This is a Chinese priority and it is a European interest”.

While the expanded EU will become China's biggest trade partner and a counterweight to United States' influence the United States (U.S.) will remain the “security linchpin for Asia”. Nevertheless, the roles of the European Union and of China as actors in regional and global affairs have changed dramatically in recent years. Moreover, “the general trend in Asia” as Wang Jisi argues, “is conducive to China's aspiration to integrate itself more extensively into the region and the world, and it would be difficult for the United States to reverse this direction”.