ASIAN Countries’ Strategies towards the European Union in an Inter-regionalist Context
This is the first book on Asian countries’ strategies towards the EU. Since the introduction of Common Foreign and Security Policy in 1993 and the publication of the EU’s first strategic document on Asia one year later, hundreds of books and journal articles have been dedicated to the study of the EU policies towards Asia as a whole, or to individual Asian countries. However, very few of these researchers ever intended to explore the strategies of Asian countries, and Asian leaders’ mindsets, vis-à-vis the EU. Quite often, the policies of Asian countries towards the EU were simply interpreted as responses to the EU’s actions in Asia.
Having been passive players for decades, Asian countries are now increasingly willing to participate in the formulation of regional and global orders, for which they need to articulate their own strategies and the world needs to better understand their mindsets. In the past two years, in the framework of EU Centres in Asia-Pacific, some top Asian scholars on EU-Asian relations were brought together to debate the strategies of individual Asian countries towards the EU, and evaluate the EU’s actions in the region. In their eyes, the EU was interpreted as a normative power, a security player, a civilian promoter and a health-care supplier. Together, they aimed to establish some common rules for explaining Asian countries’ strategies towards the EU after in-depth study of the actions of individual countries in their bilateral relations with the EU.
This book is therefore indispensable to any efforts to understand Asian leaders’ mindset in the EU-Asian relations and their strategies towards the EU in the twenty-first century.
Introduction / HUNGDAH SU
Part One: Asian Countries’ Strategies towards the EU
1.
China’s Strategy towards the EU: A Strategic Partner of No Strategic Significance?
WAI TING
2.
Japan’s Strategy towards the EU: A Strategic Partnership in Search of Common Goals
MICHITO TSURUOKA
3.
Korea’s Strategy towards the EU: From a Strategic Partner to a Privileged Partner
SI HONG KIM
4.
Taiwan’s Strategy towards the EU: From Hallstein Doctrine to Workable Diplomacy
HUNGDAH SU
5.
Indonesia’s Strategy toward the EU: Anti-colonialism, Non-alignment, and Equal Partnership
EVI FITRIANI
6.
ASEAN’s Strategy towards the EU: A Frame of Reference, a Partner and a Challenge
LAY HWEE YEO
7.
India’s Strategy towards the EU: Shared Values, but Elusive Coordinated Policies
RAJENDRA K. JAIN
Part Two: Asian Evaluation of EU’s Actions in the Context of EU-Asian Inter-regionalism
8.
The EU as a Normative Power in Asia: How Can the EU Adapt to Changing Chinese Diplomacy?
HSIN-CHIH CHEN
9.
The EU as a Security Player in Asia: Can the EU-China Strategic Partnership Be Compatible with the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership?
JUST CASTILLO IGLESIAS
10.
The EU as a Civilian Promoter in Asia: The Role of the ASEF and AEPF in the ASEM Process
MAKIKO NISHITANI
11.
The EU as a Health Actor in Asia: EU-Asian Interregional Response to Highly Pathogenic and (Re)emerging Diseases
VINCENT ROLLET