China: Systemic Rival or Selective Partner? Prospects and Challenges

Globalisation and managing the increased international interdependence which it engenders is one of the key multidimensional challenges facing the European Union (EU). One facet of this challenge is clearly the rise of China as an economic and political actor. The difficulties (and opportunities) posed by the transformations occurring in China’s role in the global economy and polity clearly need to be better understood and integrated into EU strategy. Indeed, the EU faces a series of dilemmas in relation to its China strategy, most notably the need to steer its own course in the context of a very conflictual US approach, based on distrust and the perceived need to ‘decouple’ the two economies. The EU seeks a more nuanced approach to ‘de-risk’ its relationship with China (von der Leyen, 2023); however, this will not be straightforward to achieve. It needs to balance the defence of its economic and security interests with the wider need to maintain the stable global governance required for progress on major world challenges, including climate change and wider environmental concerns that require coordinated international approaches.