Unlikely Partners? The EU-China Strategic Partnership in a Changing World Order

Abstract

This first chapter introduces the main aims of the book. These pertain to analyzing and understanding the significance of the increasing number of strategic partnerships in the world and to explicating the development of the EU-China strategic partnership since its creation in 2003. The authors argue that in order to fully understand the dynamics of the EU-China strategic partnership, the deep-seated conceptual differences which reign between the EU and China must be taken into account. To this end, the following chapters of the book provide in-depth analyses of these differences focusing on external and internal norms, vision of power, worldviews, and modes of international engagement. Furthermore, the authors argue that to understand the social dynamic that has emerged in the EU-China strategic partnership, its significance should be assessed from a three-pronged approach taking the international, bilateral, and individual levels into account.