What Drives the EU’s Contemporary Strategic Engagement with China?
16 Pages Posted: 27 Jul 2015 Last revised: 31 Aug 2020
Date Written: 2016
Abstract
This article discusses the main determinants of the European Union’s strategic engagement with China with reference to three competing analytical explanations: institutional, socio-cultural, and agency and stakeholder. The article examines the utility of each explanation, and outlines complementary variables amongst them, with the aid of evidence from long-standing points of interaction between the EU and China. These include, the EU’s arms embargo with China, EU-China competition in Africa, and the EU’s position on designating market economy status to China. The findings can reduce the misunderstandings and uncertainties embedded in the contemporary EU-China relationship.
Keywords: European Union, China, norms, arms embargo, Africa, market economy status
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