Over the last decade, the global economic and strategic balance has been shifting eastwards. Asia is the largest and the most populous continent, with China and India alone already accounting for one-third of the global population. Asia is home to some of the world’s most dynamic and fastest growing economies, but also to some most complex security hotspots. From tensions on the Korean Peninsula to maritime territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas, there are a number of issues which have the potential to spark more serious conflict. The rise of China is affecting the balance of power in the region, and has resulted in increased competition with the US for influence. This is also increasingly visible in the Indian Ocean, which has become a new theatre of strategic competition between China and India. While there are various multilateral cooperative mechanisms in the region, such as the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) or the East Asia Summit, their capacity to address such security issues remains limited.
As a key trading partner of many Asian economies, the EU has a major stake in regional stability, as well as in the security of its Sea Lanes of Communication. Since announcing its ‘pivot to Asia’ in 2012, Brussels has been trying to step up its security role in Asia by boosting cooperation with its various Strategic Partners, as well as through existing multilateral fora. The EUISS has been working to support these efforts by providing relevant expertise and analysis and conducting research in domains that have the potential to enhance regional stability and raise the EU’s security profile. Key areas of focus are maritime security and governance, preventive diplomacy, confidence and capacity building, crisis prevention, multilateralism, regional integration and institution building.
Big changes are in the offing in China with a new set of leaders due to take over this year. But, with regard to the economy, the terms of the debate have already been set – the 12 th Five Year Plan launched last year will guide the economic policy of the country through to 2015...
The long-anticipated statement that American and European officials have been talking about for months has finally emerged. Announced on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) on July 12, 2012, the statement puts an end to the political toing and froing that both sides...
As many European governments introduce their biggest defence budget cuts in years, the impact on their collective military capabilities may be lessened by exploiting two directives designed to integrate the EU defence market.
This Occasional Paper examines one of the ‘forgotten conflicts’, between the ‘Moros’ and the Philippine State, highlighting the EU's gradual move from the humanitarian and development arena towards a more explicitly political role in the peace process, in close cooperation with...
Considering its linkages with various areas such as energy security, economic growth and diplomacy, climate change is a major ‘game-changer’ in international relations. The development of the climate change regime presents the EU with both an opportunity and a threat, in as much...
US-Pakistan relations are at an all time low, something not helped by the US encouragement of Pakistan's arch-rival India to play a more robust role in Afghanistan. Yet as Gerald Stang explains, with tact and patience a convergence of US-Pakistan interests is quite possible.
For the moment, the US presence in the Asia Pacific region provides regional and extra-regional actors, including the EU, with security and stability that enable free navigation, trade flows, peaceful development, and avoidance of violent conflicts or confrontations. But how...
The recent events in Myanmar (Burma), beginning with the November 2010 elections and the following series of reforms, have taken Europe by surprise, and, to say it bluntly, they have been an embarrassing surprise. Myanmar’s first elections in 20 years have drawn the usual...
The situation in Afghanistan is currently in a period of transition. But is this the last opportunity to transform what is basically a foreign military intervention into a peacebuilding operation?
In this quarter's issue, Azzam Mahjoub pores over Tunisia's democratic transition, Álvaro de Vasconcelos deconstructs Huntington's 'clash of civilisations' theory, while Rouzbeh Parsi considers the revolutionary tremors in the Persian Gulf.
