IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/asiaeu/v15y2017i2d10.1007_s10308-017-0470-9.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Europe’s response to China’s rise: competing strategic visions

Author

Listed:
  • Richard Maher

    (European University Institute)

Abstract

How should Europe respond to China’s growing economic and military capabilities, and to the more assertive foreign policy behavior it has generated? Should it seek to check or even resist China’s rise, or should it instead rely on a strategy of engagement and accommodation? Three distinct and coherent strategic visions exist that could guide Europe’s policy and strategy toward China and the Asia Pacific over the next 10 or 15 years. These range from narrow commitments to Europe’s own security and material prosperity to more ambitious and expansive efforts to shape and influence events in the Asia Pacific. These three strategic visions are (1) balancing, (2) engagement, and (3) retrenchment. After outlining and evaluating each strategic vision, this article then offers a brief review and analysis of Europe’s current approach toward China, which is a hodgepodge of engagement and retrenchment. The article concludes by examining what might cause Europe to pursue a clearer and more consistent strategic approach toward China in the years ahead.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Maher, 2017. "Europe’s response to China’s rise: competing strategic visions," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 133-145, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:15:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10308-017-0470-9
    DOI: 10.1007/s10308-017-0470-9
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10308-017-0470-9
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10308-017-0470-9?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zhimin Chen, 2016. "China, the European Union and the Fragile World Order," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 775-792, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Louis Brennan & Alessandra Vecchi, 2021. "The European Response to Chinese Outbound Foreign Direct Investment: Introducing a Dynamic Analytical Framework," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 52(5), pages 1066-1089, September.
    2. Thomas Christiansen & Richard Maher, 2017. "The rise of China—challenges and opportunities for the European Union," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 15(2), pages 121-131, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Kristen Jones, 2024. "Colombia's role in great power competition," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 15(S3), pages 120-129, June.
    2. Niall Duggan & Obert Hodzi, 2021. "The challenges of China-European Union security cooperation in Africa," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 43-57, March.
    3. Helmut K. Anheier & Robert Falkner & Daniela Schwarzer, 2017. "Europe, the End of the West and Global Power Shifts," Global Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 8, pages 18-26, June.
    4. Sattich, Thomas & Freeman, Duncan & Scholten, Daniel & Yan, Shaohua, 2021. "Renewable energy in EU-China relations: Policy interdependence and its geopolitical implications," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    5. Gustaaf Geeraerts, 2019. "The EU-China partnership: balancing between divergence and convergence," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 17(3), pages 281-294, September.
    6. Serafettin Yilmaz (Yao Shifan) & Liu Changming, 2020. "Remaking Eurasia: the Belt and Road Initiative and China-Russia strategic partnership," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 18(3), pages 259-280, September.
    7. repec:bla:glopol:v:8:y:2017:i:s4:p:18-26 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Benjamin Barton, 2021. "The Belt-and-Road Initiative as a paradigm change for European Union-China security cooperation? The case of Central Asia," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 391-409, September.
    9. Sciences, Research Coach in Social & Chinh, Nguyen Trong, 2020. "The rise of China and its impact on East Asia a case study of territorial disputes in the South China Sea.RCISS-0320-01," OSF Preprints vrup6, Center for Open Science.
    10. Ciwan M. Can & Anson Chan, 2022. "Preventive or Revisionist Challenge During Power Transition? The Case of China–USA Strategic Competition," Journal of Asian Security and International Affairs, , vol. 9(1), pages 7-25, April.
    11. Vincent K. L. Chang & Frank N. Pieke, 2018. "Europe’s engagement with China: shifting Chinese views of the EU and the EU-China relationship," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 16(4), pages 317-331, December.
    12. Jinghan Zeng, 2017. "Does Europe Matter? The Role of Europe in Chinese Narratives of ‘One Belt One Road’ and ‘New Type of Great Power Relations’," Journal of Common Market Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(5), pages 1162-1176, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:asiaeu:v:15:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s10308-017-0470-9. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.