Crimes against Women – EU and Asian responses
By Réka Koleszár
15 September 2020
Violence against women in conflict situations is almost an omnipresent phenomenon. Women have suffered in warfare in Asia, likewise in Europe and other continents with rape and other forms of aggression often carried out with impunity. Contemporary historical precedents of systemic violence against women in NE and SE Asia and the Balkans continue to cause disputes and influence the political climate.
The EU’s ‘My Way’ with China
By Fraser Cameron
3 August 2020
In contrast to the US administration’s ideological war with China, the EU is still keen to maintain a cooperative relationship where possible with Beijing. According to one senior EU official, Pompeo’s speech at the Nixon centre last week was ‘high on bombast and low on policy.’ he added that the EU will not refrain from criticising China over human rights or taking action, as it did this week on Hong Kong, but it sees no other option than to work closely with China in the current crisis.
COVID-19 – Lessons from East Asia
By Réka Koleszár
27 July 2020
While Europe has been hit hard despite early warnings, the East Asian countries are generally viewed as success stories regarding their handling of COVID-19. Their response to the crisis evolved over time and ultimately can be judged by the number of cases, the extent to which citizens respected the preventive measures and the mortality rate. Successful countries had a case-based strategy and aggressive intervention to identify, isolate, investigate contacts and monitor them. By looking at the example of different countries in East Asia, much can be learned about handling a pandemic and its aftermath.
Values also key to EU-India Partnership
By Antti Tulonen
24 July 2020
Only a week after EU’s top diplomat Josep Borrell lamented that “Europe feels somewhat lonely, trying to hold the multilateral ring. For sure we know that we need partners.”, the successful India-EU summit on 15 July seemed to deliver with an agreement on peaceful nuclear cooperation, a declaration on sustainability and a strong joint statement and a roadmap for closer bilateral and multilateral cooperation. Arguably the summit outcome was a culmination of the shift from a predominantly trade focused relationship to a more strategic partnership first outlined in the EU's 2018 new policy for India. India does make for a very promising partner: a potential democratic superpower in the Indo-Pacific with a positive disposition towards the EU and a shared perspective on many global issues.
Onshoring medical supply chains – not a good idea
By Antti Tulonen
6 July 2020
As China, the factory of the world, went into lock-down in February, the French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire was among the first to call for “relocalising” supply chains for key industries as lack of critical parts hampered car and other production lines in Europe. Soon after, it was the alarming gaps in medical supplies that hit the headlines. By May, joining the chorus of Macron and other national politicians, even the Internal Market Commissioner Thierry Breton was saying that globalization may have "gone too far" for medical supplies as well as other industries. Arguably, the dramatic medical shortages in crisis added much of the emotional weight to the call for more ‘strategic sovereignty’ that otherwise could have too strong a ring of protectionism for many among the free trade champions in the EU.
Tough talking at the EU–China summit
By Fraser Cameron
30 June 2020
On 22 June, the first summit took place between the new EU leadership team, headed by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and President of the European Council Charles Michel, and China’s President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang, but there was little time for small talk. One official remarked, ‘the gloves were off from the start’ with no attempt to secure a traditional joint statement, let alone a joint press conference.
India-China Mistrust Continues
By Ishaansh Singh
20 June 2020
The latest India-China confrontation involving several fatalities is a reminder that their long-running border disputes are far from settled. Mutual distrust has characterised relations between the two nuclear-armed Asian giants since they went to war in 1962. At the same time they remain important trading partners.
.jpg "Hong Kong protest (Credit: wikimedia commons)")
National Security Law, CCP versus Hong Kong
By Catarina Rogado
9 June 2020
It is widely believed that President Xi Jinping has used the cover of the Covid-19 crisis to introduce the contentious new national security legislation for Hong Kong. Beijing was clearly frustrated at the long-running demonstrations in Hong Kong last year following the introduction of an equally contentious extradition bill and hoped that the world’s attention would be focused on tackling the pandemic rather than Hong Kong.
EU-Asia should defend multilateralism
By Fraser Cameron
27 May 2020
Relations between the EU and Asia face an uncertain future as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic. Unlike after 2008-09, when there was a coordinated global response to the financial crisis led by the US, there has been no such response to Covid-19. States have turned inwards, closing borders and placing an emphasis on national as opposed to cooperative solutions. A bitter propaganda war between the US and China has also had a negative impact on global cooperation. The implications of Covid-19 are likely to be far-reaching and will affect the balance of global power, economic structures, the role of multilateral agencies, patterns of social interaction and ways of work. Much will depend on the trajectory of the pandemic but governments will wish to mitigate the huge costs of the economic shutdown as soon as possible. Although national governments will give priority to restoring their own economies they will soon learn that this can only be effective by global cooperation. In the absence of traditional US global leadership, there is now an opportunity for the EU and Asia to demonstrate the benefits of a cooperative approach to international relations.
Will China Rein in its Wolves?
By Antti Tulonen
22 May 2020
The backlash to the China’s ‘Wolf Warrior’ diplomacy, brought about by Xi Jinping’s call for ‘fighting spirit’ among Chinese diplomats in September 2019, continues to mount. “Over these months China has lost Europe”, said Reinhard Bütikofer, the Chair of the European Parliament Delegation to China, in April summing up the sentiment shared by many. Since then, the criticism has only become louder. China’s pressuring of EEAS to water down its report on China’s disinformation campaign and the last-minute censorship of the op-ed by the EU ambassadors in China have only added to the slew of national level examples of ‘wolf warriors’ in action.
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