Theatres of Contest: Contemporary Chinese Policies in Europe and Beyond

Abstract

By adopting a more assertive global posture, China has obtained numerous new clients, partners and competitors around the world. Beyond the ASEAN region, or its traditional Central Asian sphere of interest, China has been active along the New Silk Road, including the Middle East and Europe, but also in Africa and, Increasingly, Latin America. Its complex interdependence with the US has become an axiom of global politics, representing the most important axis of world economy. At the same time, Chinese rise has brought about episodes of friction with many existing powers – most notably, the US and its allies such as Japan and Republic of Korea. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, China has penetrated European political landscape, establishing more or less formal frameworks of engagement and cooperation with the countries of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe, as well as with major European players such as Germany, Italy and France. This is raising concerns about once unchallenged US strategic presence in Europe, and about the prospects for the development of European strategic actorness itself. Within this panel, a group of scholars, utilizing a wide set of theoretical and methodological approaches, addresses the consequences of Chinese engagement in various regions, as well as the evolution of Chinese relations with other major actors.

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