The politics of the EU
| Published date | 01 March 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2057891116662343 |
| Date | 01 March 2017 |
| Author | Hanns W Maull |
| Subject Matter | Research articles |
Research article
The politics of the EU:
China’s relationship
with Europe
Hanns W Maull
Stubenrauchstr., Berlin, Germany
Abstract
The article looks at the politics of the European Union’s policies towards China, using the liberal
theory of international politics of Andrew Moravcsik as a framework for analysis. It concludes that
these policies are structurally fragmented, incoherent and inconsistent because of the way they are
formulated and implemented. The preponderance of commercial preferences and the insistence
on national sovereignty are crucial to understanding why this is the case. As a consequence, the
European position in the bilateral relationship is weakened and the relationship itself is unbalanced.
Keywords
EU China relations, liberal theory of international politics, politics of EU’s China policies in Europe
Introduction
According to the CIA World Factbook, in 2015 three large economies accounted for about half of
world economic activity (GDP): The People’s Republic of China with an estimated US$19.51
trillion, the European Union with US$19.18 trillion and the United States with US$17.97 trillion
(CIA, 2016). Those three economies are intertwined through massive trade and investment flows
and thus connected with each other through a multitude of ties that produce huge wealth but also
entanglement. The bilateral relations between those three economic centers of gravity are therefore
bound to be complex and characterized by both cooperation and competition. This complexity is
heightened by the rise of China and the challenge this represents to the existing liberal international
order built around the transatlantic region.
1
Given levels of economic interdependence between the
three, the assumption that they also are bound to interact intensely politically has produced the
notion of a new ‘strategic triangle’ formed by those three units (Shambaugh, 2005).
Corresponding author:
Hanns W Maull, MERICS, Klosterstr. 64, D-10179 Berlin, Germany.
Email: hanns.maull@merics.de
Asian Journal of Comparative Politics
2017, Vol. 2(1) 55–69
ªThe Author(s) 2016
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DOI: 10.1177/2057891116662343
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