Assessing the practical implementation of the EU’s values in EU–China dialogues

Literature debating the role of the EU’s values in its external relations has neglected to adequately define and empirically explore the practical promotion or mainstreaming of these aspects in diplomatic dialogues with third countries, at the micro-level. Departing from an often abstract focus by scholars on policy outcomes at the macro-level, a concentration on micro-level processes enables an explanation of how value mainstreaming is actually taking place and the elements informing this. It encompasses the role of individual EU officials, the mechanisms guiding their activities, and the impact of interlocutors from third countries. Addressing this gap, this paper defines EU value mainstreaming and conducts a discourse analysis of a comprehensive sample of interviews with EU officials operationalising EU–China dialogues, arguably the hardest test case. It is found that value mainstreaming is rarely taking place in practice due to a nuanced combination of factors. These include EU officials’ perceived lack of responsibility for undertaking such activities, anticipated obstruction by Chinese interlocutors, and counterproductive mainstreaming approaches.