in the eyes of the dragon, chinese perceptions of the eu

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In the Eyes of the Dragon

Chinese Perceptions of the EU as a Global Actor

Asia Paper vol. 1 (4)

2 December 2007

Gustaaf Geeraerts is director of the Brussels Institute of Contemporary

China Studies (BICCS) and teaches international relations and political

economy at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. More information about BICCS can

be found at www.vub.ac.be/biccs.

Background Papers are a product of BICCS’ ongoing research projects.

They are published after an internal peer review procedure.

BICCS ASIA PAPER



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the 2001 communication "EU Strategy towards China: Implementation of the1998 Communication and Future Steps for a more Effective EU Policy".Current EU policy towards China is based on the policy paper of the

Commission entitled “A maturing partnership : shared interests andchallenges in EU-China relations” which was endorsed by the EuropeanCouncil on 13 October 2003.iii As Medeiros and Fravel (2003) note: “China has also acted to diversify thesources of policy analysis it receives from inside and outside thegovernment. For example, the newly invigorated policy planningdepartment of the foreign ministry now plays a prominent role as an internalthink tank, and the ministry has also begun to hire specialists from outsidethe government to serve as consultants on technical issues such asnonproliferation and missile defense. Chinese scholars and policy analystsregularly participate in internal study groups, write reports, and draft policybriefs. These scholars and analysts frequently travel abroad, interacting withinternational experts in their field, and they help sensitize China's leaders tointernational trends as well as presenting them with a range of policyoptions.”iv Chu June-fu, “Foreign Relations of New China during the Past Five Years,”World Culture, October 5, 1954, quoted in Cammilieri, Joseph. 1980. Chinese

Foreign Policy: the Maoist Era and Its Aftermath. Oxford: Martin Robertson.v As Zhang Tiejun (2005: 241) remarks, especially after the Kosovo War andthe NATO bombing of the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade, “a growingnumber of Chinese analysts and officials concluded that the transition periodtoward multipolarity would take longer than previously envisaged, with theUS remaining at the apex as the sole, unchallenged superpower”.

in the eyes of the dragon, chinese perceptions of the eu

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