You are here

Asia

Over the last decade, the global economic and strategic balance has been shifting eastwards. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent, with China and India alone already accounting for one-third of the global population. Asia is home to some of the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing economies, but also to some most complex security hotspots. From tensions on the Korean Peninsula to maritime territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, there are a number of issues which have the potential to spark more serious conflict. The rise of China is affecting the balance of power in the region, and has resulted in increased competition with the US for influence. This is also increasingly visible in the Indian Ocean, which has become a new theatre of strategic competition between China and India. While there are various multilateral cooperative mechanisms in the region, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) or the East Asia Summit, their capacity to address such security issues remains limited.

As a key trading partner of many Asian economies, the EU has a major stake in regional stability, as well as in the security of its Sea Lanes of Communication. Since announcing its ‘pivot to Asia’ in 2012, Brussels has been trying to step up its security role in Asia by boosting cooperation with its various Strategic Partners, as well as through existing multilateral fora. The EUISS has been working to support these efforts by providing relevant expertise and analysis and conducting research in domains that have the potential to enhance regional stability and raise the EU’s security profile. Key areas of focus are maritime security and governance, preventive diplomacy, confidence and capacity building, crisis prevention, multilateralism, regional integration and institution building.

For the recent EUISS mini podcast series on China, click here.

Pages

  • Download document
    29November 2013

    This brief analyses what impact the five BRICS countries are likely to have in global politics in the years to come, and what future trajectory the grouping might take. The BRICS ‘club’ may or may not last – in its present or another formation – but its rise is a wake-up call for the EU to deepen its bilateral relations with individual BRICS and possibly reconsider its own position in the emerging system of global governance.

  • Download document
    15November 2013

    This alert examines how the relationship between the EU and Japan has evolved significantly over the past two decades. It highlights how a more comprehensive partnership – going beyond trade and investment – is something that is now sought by both sides, particularly in the sphere of political and security cooperation.

  • Download document
    11October 2013

    This Brief tracks the evolution of the Sino-European strategic partnership, exploring the highs and lows of a complex relationship that is now well placed to move beyond its economic foundations and potentially into the realm of politico-military affairs.

  • Download document
    27September 2013

    This brief highlights the need to develop deeper bilateral relations with a country that is both strategically important and a hub in its own region. Can the EU really afford, as a whole, to engage only sporadically with the world’s largest Muslim country and third-largest democracy?

  • 11July 2013

    The EUISS, in collaboration with the Asia-Pacific division of the EEAS and in partnership with the Korean Society of Contemporary European Studies (KSCES), organised an expert seminar on Thursday 11 July 2013 to assess and examine the state of EU-South Korea relations.

  • Download document
    08July 2013

    As the twelfth year of military engagement in Afghanistan draws to a close, NATO troop numbers are set to be significantly reduced and reoriented to training Afghan forces rather than carrying out executive security functions. But how will international actors (including the EU) recalibrate their approach in order to ensure stability in both Afghanistan and the wider region?

  • Download document
    06May 2013

    The upcoming elections will act as an important indicator of Pakistan’s improving capacity to build a secure political order for its citizens. With a changing electorate and a new institutional balance of power, Pakistan now has the opportunity to establish a new political narrative that builds on the country’s pluralism.

  • Download document
    26March 2013

    The US ‘pivot’ towards Asia has generated debate in Europe about whether the EU should upgrade its presence in the region. Yet, as this alert shows, the EU and its member states already began their own, largely undetected, rebalancing towards Asia roughly a decade ago. Does the EU now have the possibility of becoming – even inadvertently – an Asian (minor) power?

  • 13March 2013

    Taking place in Washington, D.C on the 13-14 March, the 2013 EUWF served as a reminder that diplomacy, development and defence are all important elements in attempts to maintain stability and generate growth, even in times of budgetary constraints.

  • Download document
    07March 2013

    China is poised to become the EU’s most important commercial partner, while simultaneously being a serious challenger in trade and a competitor for resources. It is against the backdrop of this dichotomy that this report offers a number of suggestions to assist EU policymakers in developing a more coherent approach towards China.

Pages

Pages

  • Download document
    01October 2005

    The rapid modernisation of the People's Liberation Army, Beijing's increasingly threatening stance vis-à-vis Taiwan and its demand for energy are the main factors driving America's preoccupation with China. All sectors of opinion in the US criticised the EU's declared intention to lift its embargo on arms exports to China. This policy was misunderstood and its implications exaggerated.

  • Download document
    01October 2005

    En 2004, 20% des minerais extraits sur le continent africain ont été exportés vers la Chine ; 20% des importations chinoises de pétrole proviennent désormais des pays d'Afrique sub-saharienne. Bien que la Chine ne réalise que 2,4% de son commerce extérieur en biens manufacturés avec l'Afrique, de nouveaux types d'exportations chinoises - avec des produits à plus forte valeur ajoutée - sont apparus ces dernières années vers les pays africains : en l'espace de quatre ans, le volume des échanges a été multiplié par trois entre la Chine et l'Afrique sub-saharienne.

  • Download document
    01June 2005

    Pays atypique par sa modernité précoce, sa grandeur économique, sa relation de sécurité avec les Etats-Unis - unique dans sa définition et dans sa portée -, enfin par sa Loi fondamentale, unique également dans le pacifisme institutionnel qu’elle scelle, le Japon réunit tous les paradoxes.

  • Download document
    01December 2004

    L'intervention militaire en Afghanistan d'octobre 2001 a été déterminée uniquement par les attentats du 11 septembre. L'Etat ne peut se reconstruire qu'à partir de la culture politique afghane : il faut pour cela inscrire les réformes dans un cadre idéologiquement légitime (nationalisme, islam), tout en s'adaptant à l'anthropologie politique de l'Afghanistan, où notables et groupes de solidarité locaux jouent un rôle plus important que les grandes tribus ou les ethnies.

  • Download document
    01April 2003

    Could it be that Europeans, like Americans, believe that from now on ‘the mission determines the coalition, and not the other way round’? That was the new American strategic dogma established as transatlantic doctrine by Donald Rumsfeld after the 11 September attacks.

  • 01April 2003
    By

    In its National Security Strategy (NSS) published in September 2002, the Bush administration maintains that the United States reserves the right to act pre-emptively to `stop rogue states and their terrorist clients before they are able to threaten or use weapons of mass destruction against the United States and our allies and friends'.

  • Download document
    01March 2003

    Depuis plus de 50 ans, la question du Cachemire constitue non seulement une source de tension majeure entre l’Inde et le Pakistan mais aussi le point de départ possible d’une crise nucléaire régionale. Elle est alimentée par les actes de terrorisme qui touchent le Jammu et Cachemire, à l’instigation de groupes basés au Pakistan.

Pages