Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T19:50:23.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

China, the EU, and the New Multipolarity

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Gustaaf Geeraerts
Gustaaf Geeraerts*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Economic, Political and Social Sciences and Solvay Business School, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Pleinlaan 2, 1050 Brussels, Belgium. E-mail: gustaaf.geeraerts@vub.ac.be
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The world within which the EU and China have to deal with each other is changing. The unipolar moment is definitely fading and slowly giving way to an international system characterized by multilayered and culturally diversified polarity. This development has far-reaching consequences for the EU–China relationship; the more so since the EU and China have distinctive identities and define their value preferences differently. China is no longer the developing country it once was and is becoming more assertive by the day. Beijing is at the head of the world’s most successful economy and will weigh more and more heavily on global governance.1 Three decades of impressive economic growth have boosted the self-confidence of the Chinese leaders significantly. In Beijing, the notion that China should start taking on an attitude befitting a great power is gaining ground. China is taking up ever more space within various multilateral organizations and is setting up diplomatic activities throughout the globe. Moreover, Beijing has become more active in setting up its own multilateral channels to further its national interests and own norms. China no longer considers itself an outsider that should crawl back into its shell and steer clear of a global political system dominated by the West. All this puts into question the EU’s conditional policy towards China, which is based on the assumption that China can be socialized and persuaded to incorporate Europe’s post-modern values. The way ahead seems to be for Europe to opt for a more pragmatic approach, which takes stock of the changes in the underlying power and identity relations between the EU and China. The analysis of this paper will be developed at three levels. First, it examines the changes in the structure of international politics. To what kind of structure are we evolving and where do China and the EU fit in? Second, it takes a closer look at the respective identities of China and the EU and explicates the major differences between them. Finally, this study appraises the implications of the emerging multilayered and culturally diversified polarity for the further development of the EU–China relationship.

Type
Focus: Globalization
Information
European Review , Volume 19 , Issue 1 , February 2011 , pp. 57 - 67
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References and Notes

1.Shen, Q. (2009) Subtle changes in relations among key players in the reform of the international financial and economic system. Foreign Affairs Journal, 21(92), pp. 33–55.Google Scholar
2.Wang, J. (2005) China’s Search for Stability with America. Foreign Affairs, 84(5), p. 39.Google Scholar
3.Ikenberry, G. J. (2008) The rise of China and the future of the West. Can the liberal system survive? Foreign Affairs, 87(1), p. 23.Google Scholar
4. See IISS (2007) The Military Balance (London: International Institute for Strategic Studies), pp. 346–351.Google Scholar
5. See SIPRI (2009) SIPRI Yearbook 2009. Summary (Stockholm: SIPRI), p. 11.Google Scholar
6.Hughes, C. R. (2005) Nationalism and multilateralism in Chinese foreign policy: implications for Southeast Asia. Pacific Review, 18(1), pp. 119–135.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
7.Waltz, K. (1993) The emerging structure of international politics. International Security, 18(2), p. 50.Google Scholar
8. Comprehensive national power (CNP), is an indicator used by Chinese scholars to aggregate economic, political and military sources of power. China has climbed up onto the fourth rank, behind the United States, Japan and Germany. According to these assessments, China has already attained a higher ranking in terms of political, diplomatic, economic, and military capabilities. See for example: China Academy of Social Sciences (2009) Shijie jingji huangpishu [World Yellow Economic Book] (Beijing: CASS); Liu xhibiao tuxian 60 nian zhongguo jingji bianhua: zonghe guoli you ruo dao qiang [Six Highlights, Sixty Indicators of Economic Change in China: Comprehensive National Strength from Weak to Strong], China News Net, 19 August 2009.Google Scholar
9.Mearsheimer, J. (2000) The Tragedy of Great Power Politics (New York: W.W. Norton), p. 145; R. Kagan (2005) The illusion of managing China, The Washington Post, 13 May 2005; R. Bernstein and R. Munro (1997) The Coming Conflict with America. Foreign Affairs, 76(2), pp. 18–32.Google Scholar
10.Lateigne, M. (2007) China and International Institutions: Alternate Paths to Global Power (New York: Routledge), p. 1.Google Scholar
11.Editorial (2010) Pékin et l’Asean, Le Monde, 1 January.Google Scholar
12.Geeraerts, G. and Holslag, J. (2007) The Pandragon: China’s double diplomatic identity. Asia Papers, 2(2).Google Scholar
13. On neo-mercantilism see Gilpin, R. (1987) The Political Economy of International Relations (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.European Council (2003) A Secure Europe in a Better World: European Security Strategy, p. 9.Google Scholar
15.European Commission (1995) A Long-term Policy for EU–China Relations (Brussels: European Commission), p. 6.Google Scholar
16.Cooper, R. (2003) The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century (New York: Atlantic Press), p. 137.Google Scholar
17.Holland, M., Ryan, P., Nowak, A.Z. and Chaban, N. (eds) (2007) The EU Through the Eyes of Asia (Singapore: World Scientific Publishing).Google Scholar