The Evolution of the EU-China Relationship: From Constructive Engagement to Strategic Partnership; Embracing the Dragon: The EU's Partnership With China
Reviewed by Philip H. Gordon
Like everybody else, Europeans are becoming fascinated by China's rise and its potential to transform the international system. The EU is already China's largest trading partner, and European executives and investors still dream about the opportunities presented by the Chinese market. But the relationship is now also spreading to other, more "political" areas, including climate change, human rights, Iran, energy, satellites, and arms sales. These three studies reflect both growing European interest and a European consensus that engagement is the best way to ensure that China develops peacefully. The Zaborowski volume includes essays by some of Europe's top China watchers, including particularly good ones by Peter Ferdinand, François Godement, and Eberhard Sandschneider. Casarini includes a useful analysis of the EU's aborted plan to lift its arms embargo on China and how that episode caused a huge rift with the United States. And Barysch convincingly makes the case that Europe's engagement with China is not only already greater than many realize but likely to continue to grow as well.
