The European Union uses a confidential, institutionalized Dialogue to raise human rights concerns with China, but little is publicly known about its set-up, its substance, its development over time and its impact. This book provides the first detailed reconstruction and assessment of the EU’s responses to human rights violations in China from 1995 to the present day. Using classified documents in the EU’s historical archives and interviews with diplomats, officials and human rights experts in Europe, China and the United States, Kinzelbach lifts the veil of secrecy on the EU-China Human Rights Dialogue and provides a rare insight into how the European Union and China conduct quiet diplomacy on human rights. The book reconstructs the evolution of the Dialogue and the EU’s internal debate on the merits of quiet diplomacy, and draws comparisons with the approach of other actors, notably that of the United States. In doing so, the EU’s relative impact is concluded to be tenuous if not counter-productive. The book also chronicles and analyzes numerous human rights concerns that were raised in the period, ranging from structural issues to individual cases. This ground-breaking, in-depth case study will be of interest to students and scholars of international politics, human rights, international law, EU politics, especially the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Chinese politics.

The context of EU–China relations has dramatically changed over the past years. Mounting challenges and diverging perceptions on and approaches to global and domestic affairs risk undermining the effectiveness of the bilateral dialogue. It is crucial to minimise all misperceptions and overcome any lack of understanding in the EU–China bilateral relationship, now more than ever.The EU & China Think-Tank Exchanges project, coordinated by the European Policy Centre (EPC) with the cooperation of EGMONT–The Royal Institute for International Relations, the China Institute of International Studies (CIIS) and the Center for China and Globalization (CCG), aims to strengthen and stimulate a dialogue between think tanks and research institutes across the EU and China.Over a period of three years, the EPC and its think tank partners encourage experts, analysts and policymakers from Europe and China to discuss issues of common interest, such as post-COVID-19 cooperation, climate action and the environment, the global economy, digitalisation and connectivity, human rights and peace, or security in international affairs. Through a series of structured exchanges between intellectuals and strategic thinkers, the project promotes the EU–China dialogue and supports mutual understanding and joint action across several relevant and cross-cutting policy areas and issues of mutual concern. This first volume of a three-part collection gathers this analysis in a comprehensive compendium. It contains 12 input papers that provide the views of European and Chinese experts on a set of specific policy issues, from 2021 to 2022. They not only provide a specialist view on the state of affairs in a given field but also offer a snapshot of the authors’ perceptions at a specific moment in time. The publication is, in this regard, an opportunity to review and reflect on how the EU–China relationship has developed over the last months. Each paper invites the reader to assess whether the policy recommendations are still relevant and if the international context of EU–China relations developed as the authors anticipated. In other words, it is an invitation to continue the conversation.

EUROPEAN STUDIES: An Interdisciplinary Series in European Culture, History and Politics -- Contents -- Authors in this Volume -- Introduction -- THE CONTEXT OF EU-CHINA RELATIONS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS DILEMMA -- Eu-China Relations: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives -- The Development of Eu-China Relations -- The Eu and China in the Context of Inter-regionalism -- Duality - Dialogue - Discourse: Some Perspectives on Human Rights in Eu-China Relations -- Sport and Politics: The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games -- ASPECTS OF THE GEO-POLITICAL SETTING OF EU-CHINA INTERACTION -- China Views Europe: A Multi-polar Perspective -- The European Union and China: Indian Perceptions and Perspectives -- Russia's Closer Ties with China: The Geo-politics of Energy and the Implications for the European Union -- The European Union, China and the United States: Complex Interdependence and Bi-multilateralism in Commercial Relations -- The European Union's Economic Ties with the Republic of China (Taiwan) -- ISSUES - POLICIES - PERCEPTIONS -- China, News Media Freedom and the West: Present and Future Perspectives -- Trade and Investment in the Relations Between the European Union and the People's Republic of China -- Eu-china Foreign Direct Investment: A Double-sided Perspective -- China's Search for Energy Security and Eu-China Relations -- Recent Chinese Practice In the Maintenance of Maritime Security and the European Experience -- Conclusions: Towards an Eu-China Research-Agenda 2010

This book considers the effect of China’s unprecedented economic growth and more prominent geopolitical role in the twenty-first century. Rising powers considerably alter international relations, leading to the emergence of a multipolar world order that impacts more traditional international players like the European Union (EU). China’s growing economic and diplomatic influence is particularly relevant in Africa, where it presents an alternative to conventional North-South relations and proposes a new type of South-South partnership. Stahl examines the EU’s foreign policy response regarding China’s growing presence in Africa, as well as the EU’s attempts to refocus attention on the African continent. Drawing on a rich body of evidence collected through fieldwork in China and Africa, and extensive expert interviews, the author sheds light on the novel trend of EU-China-Africa trilateral relations. The book offers a new analytical framework for the study of the EU’s foreign policy of engagement with emerging powers and will appeal to graduate students and scholars interested in the EU’s international role, international relations and development, as well as contemporary Chinese and African studies.

The China-EC/EU relationship, started in 1975, is a highly institutionalized, multidimensional and complex, but to some extent controversial international partnership. It is also challenged within the current unstable world. This book addresses the convergences and the differences (ideational, political, institutional and interests-related) between China and the EU by a collective interaction between Chinese and European scholars. Among other things the book assesses sectoral bilateral dialogue and focuses on the interplay between internal complexity and external policies, discusses ideational divergences in international law and rule of law and in many relevant policy fields. Furthermore, it compares sustainable growth policies; explores trade and investment controversies and negotiations, human rights dialogue; and addresses environment and climate change policies. This text will be of key interest to EU studies and politics, China studies and more broadly to area/Asian studies and international relations/global governance.

The interaction between the EU, the US and China is of particular importance to the formation of the international order in the 21st century. This book focuses on the latest developments and examines how critical the interactions between these three pl