Whom to Call? In Search of a European Policy on Russia and China

Abstract

This chapter assesses Europe’s response to a resurgent Russia and a rising China. To what extent do Europeans see these powers as security challenges of the same order and how do they seek to confront them? Geography makes the impact of Sino-Russian relations different on the European flank of the Eurasian continent than on the Asia-Pacific flank. No European country has to worry about the geographic proximity of both China and Russia the same way as Japan does. Nonetheless, in an international system increasingly shaped by great power rivalry, the Europe-China-Russia triangle has become critically important. NATO has responded to Russia’s aggressive behavior by reinforcing its Eastern European members, but for Washington it is China’s rise that represents the greater challenge to its global interests. This divergence of view presents Europe and the transatlantic relationship with a number of challenges.