EU-Asia Security Relations

Abstract

Europe and Asia share a long history of cultural, political and economic exchange. Their economic interconnections have been among the leading dynamics of globalization. In contrast, political and security relations between Europe and Asia have been limited, and tend to be seen through the prism of US interests. In an increasingly multipolar global order, relations between Europe and Asia have regained some of their former importance. Furthermore, the EU has become a relevant security actor with a distinct foreign and security policy and administrative resources (the European External Action Service) dedicated to promoting EU values and interests abroad. In its 2016 Global Strategy, the EU emphasizes the importance of engaging with Asia (in particular with China and ASEAN) to secure economic growth and political stability. Despite their geographical distance, Europe and Asia share a number of security challenges such as, for example, the global stability of the international economic system, concerns about (nuclear) proliferation and climate change. At the same time, each region faces unique security problems, such as territorial conflicts in the South-China Sea, cyber-attacks and increasing tensions on the Korean peninsula in Asia. This issue is all the more pressing in the context of an emerging pattern of a partial US withdrawal from global and multilateral governance regimes (initially trade, then climate change, and possibly regional security in the future) there is greater scope for cooperation between the EU and Asian partners, and indeed opportunities for leadership in some of these fields. While avoiding speculation about future developments, there is a more urgent need under these circumstances to establish the existing foundations EU-Asia cooperation in order to gain a better sense of the basis on which the European Union and Asian partners approach future opportunities. The panel addresses these issues through a range of papers that focus on EU relations with key partners. The paper by Kirchner addresses EU security relations with China, while Bossong in his paper looks at the cooperation between the EU and Japan in the area of organised crime and terrorism. Two other papers take a broader perspective on EU relations with Asia as a whole - Christiansen and Kirchner in a conceptual paper that seeks to provide a framework for the analysis of EU-security analysis, and Bersick contributes a paper focused on the issue of maritime security and the role the EU can play in this regard.