With a growing power shift towards Asia, it is key to understand the regional architecture and evaluate how the EU engages within various Asian fora.
Rapid developments in Asia are transforming the commercial environment in the region. Concurrently, progress on the EU’s commercial relationship with Asia has been sobering, displaying little evidence of strategic direction. Of utmost need is an EU-Asia trade strategy that can provide effective guidance over the medium to long terms.
Europe sees Asia overwhelmingly as a trade partner and, unlike the US, hasn't been able to develop a security assessment of the region. How should European engagement with China be strengthened on security issues?
The conflict between Pakistan’s government and its muscle-flexing judiciary is posing serious challenges to the country’s recently re-established democratic regime. It also breeds uncertainty in how the EU should engage with Pakistan. Trade and aid will not alleviate problems which instead need both consistent political engagement and technical support.
The EU-India Free Trade Agreement can help clear the economic/financial gloom on both sides but must be concluded before 2012 ends.
President Ma's second term in office will be a defining period as Taiwan seeks an economic rapprochement with the PRC but also faces increased pressure to unite.
Stability in Afghanistan will remain elusive as long as Afghanistan's neighbours continue their power-jockeying in the country. The EU must involve India and Pakistan in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.
The second International Nuclear Security Summit hosted by Seoul on the 27-28th March 2012 is an important multilateral forum to discuss a broad range of nuclear security related issues in Asia and beyond.
Maritime Security may well be the defining issue for Asia’s geopolitical and security architecture in the twenty-first century but an EU role yet remains conspicuously absent despite considerable interests in the region.
The EU-India Summit made progress on the bilateral compact of the strategic partnership. More needs to be done for convergence on the multilateral level.
Regional powers will determine the future of Afghanistan post-2014. This policy brief examines the different interests of Afghanistan's neighbours and asks how the EU could encourage them to play a more positive role.
Why does India behave the way she does in foreign affairs? This policy brief puts forth four reasons why and outlines India's role in the new global order.
Growing concerns over the economic outlook in East Asia threaten the upward trend in EU exports in the absence of policy efforts to conclude new trade accords.
This first policy brief of FRIDE’s Agora Asia-Europe initiative suggests how the EU should increase its efforts to mitigate Pakistan’s growing stability.
The EU-India relationship holds much potential but has so far failed to progress in any significant fashion. Both partners need to move beyond mere summits and adopt a new, more dynamic attitude to push forward long pending issues like free trade or counter-terrorism cooperation.
In the context of China’s rise to power, it is important for Asia’s security agenda to look at the Chinese experience of managing the Uyghur issue, where Islam tends to be used as an ideology of decolonisation and resistance.
While the EU has begun to take Asia seriously, it is focusing on bilateral relations with large Asian powers and neglecting the importance of ASEAN.
Relations between the EU and Russia have improved since 2010. Unlike in the immediate neighbourhood, where Moscow perceives Europe’s presence as a threat to its interests, the Russia–Europe partnership could be productive in Asia.