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China-Europe Relations: Perceptions, Policies, and Prospects

Edited by David Shambaugh, Eberhard Sandschneider, and Zhou Hong
Reviewed by By Philip H. Gordon
March/April 2008
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Edited by David Shambaugh, Eberhard Sandschneider, and Zhou Hong
Routledge
2007
368 pp.
9780415431996
$43.95

Americans woke up to the growing importance of the Chinese-European relationship in 2005, when a proposal to lift the European Union's arms embargo on China led to a serious transatlantic clash. As Europeans have backed away (at least temporarily) from that proposal, Americans have again lost interest -- a mistake according to the authors of this comprehensive study of the Chinese-European relationship. The merit of the volume is that it includes contributions from some of the leading experts on the subject from both Europe and China as well as from the United States. Not surprisingly, they express many different views, but one thing they agree on is that Europe is paying more attention to China (its fastest-growing market and an emerging global player) and China is paying more attention to Europe (its largest trading partner and a potential geopolitical alternative to the United States). This is the most detailed study available of the growing relationship between these two global powers.

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