China is more supportive of the European Union than ever before in our changing world. The European Union has referred to the 21st Century as the ‘Asian Century’ and Asia’s citizens are proving to be very proactive in preparing for “their” century. China’s annually growth is at 6%, in comparison with the EU’s 1% – a big future problem for the latter to deal with. The European Union has taken advantage of the legacy of the industrial revolution – but now we find ourselves at the threshold of a fourth revolution, and have to ask if anyone knows what will happen? Following this, we have to be prepared to take advantage. After all the crises and disasters that China has suffered, its economy continues to be dynamic and its economic environment is proving to be more stable than those of the EU or USA (if we are speaking in terms of the biggest GDP).
The USA has gone ahead with its ‘Pivot to Asia’, mainly because of the rise of China. How dangerous could China be? They want to demonstrate that they are the biggest country in their whole region. China is set to be the dominant superpower in twenty years; they are still very unclear about the military budget, but we may compare the US’s $600 Bn to the Chinese $200 Bn one.
The term ‘Pivot’ refers to the process that was started by the Bush administration, because of the rise of China; however, China insists that it is a peaceful nation. Furthermore, whether through the development bank for Asia, one belt one road or IMF cancellation of all these things, the US is trying to keep China under control. This is a big mis-step, because China has to be around the table, rather than treated differently. See a map below of TPP – Trans Pacific Partnership as known as economic rebalance in Asia. However the main aim is a strategic goal by U.S. to achieve leadership in Asia
Europeans want to achieve everything very, but the Chinese can wait for a hundred years to achieve their goals. We are very different nations, and Chinese culture is naturally fascinating to Europeans.
The European Union is seeking to create a new global strategy, and looking to make the switch from EU Prayer to EU Player. However, the main challenges remain: how to deal, defend and promote our interests? We have to all stick together.
We can see a more visible presence in cooperation emerging between the EU and Asia. Every two years, EU/Asia conferences are held. A big mistake of the EU is that European elites/ministers do not attend these conferences, and we have to provide a more visible political power cooperation if we want to sustain stable cooperation.
The European Union is not a traditional security power and never will be; however, in terms of modern security and economic clout it is a major power. Our priority is to develop and maintain the most cutting edge form of soft power.
India does not want to negotiate with the EU as an entity; rather, they seek to cooperate only with the UK as first choice, Germany as second and France as the third; this is because there are special social and economic rights to be factored in if you want to implement an economic agreement with the European Union, and India does not want have any adjustment imposed upon its social and economic terms. Moreover, One third of the whole Indian Parliament are criminals with criminal records, and they never speak about foreign relations in their parliament; if they want to achieve more stability and become a genuine superpower in economic terms in their region, they have a lot of problems to address. Furthermore, there are clashes between India and China, including border disputes. Both countries want to become superpowers in the same region, but they will have to develop more cooperation than confrontation in the future.
The European Union and Japan are negotiating a trade agreement. This is facilitated by the common values that the EU shares with Japan, and the whole negotiation process looks promising.