Asian slowdown leaves Europe pondering

By Jonathan Holslag Source:Global Times Published: 2012-8-13 18:25:03

"Should I stay or should I go?" An interesting discussion has ignited about whether Europe should get more involved in Asia, even in security affairs, or whether it should focus on its internal challenges and threats in the neighborhood.

In a region that is not used to thinking strategically, such discussion is surely a step forward.

Obviously, Europe cannot turn away from Asia. But that still leaves the question how Europe should engage its sister continent.

Parts of Asia remain unstable. Now that the hype about an Asian century has settled, the challenges loom large.

Asia faces a growing gap between great expectations and a rather trying reality. The Chinese economic engine is spluttering. In South and Southeast Asia, governments struggle to generate enough opportunities for their booming populations.

That, on its turn, limits the scope of elites to enhance regional cooperation and, instead, fuels nationalist rhetoric. The pull of power politics over territory, economic stakes and military spheres of influence remains often stronger than the pursuit of peace.

Europe needs to hedge its bets in Asia and restore its economic leadership.

Enhanced economic diplomacy in Asia needs to be complemented by more efforts to strengthen the European market, to boost innovation, to trim our current account deficits, and to reduce our dependence on fossil fuel imports that cost a staggering 13 percent of Europe's GDP.

The economic fundamentals of Europe are still sound. However, Europe needs an ambitious plan to overcome the current crisis.

Then there's security. Asia is stacked with power, grand ambition, and martial muscle flexing to the degree that Europe has no longer the weight to make a difference.

Europe can sell some arms to partners, help the Americans to stage an orderly exit from Afghanistan, and try to be a model for building peace through regional cooperation. But that is about it.

The main task for Europe is to strengthen its influence in the belt of uncertainty that stretches from Africa, over the Arab Sea lanes, the Levant, and Eastern Europe all the way to the Arctic circle.

It is here that it has to make itself militarily and diplomatically indispensable.

That influence is crucial to bend the interest of the Asian powers into positive synergies and to balance against those countries that undermine Europe's interests.

It is not too hard to conceive a grand strategy for Asia. But it is going to be an arduous job for Europe to unite around such vision, yet alone to implement it with vigor.

That brings us to a third task, which is, to strengthen Europe's internal decision-making in order to develop a more forceful external strategy.

The External Action Service of the EU should exercise its mandate to reflect with the member states about the changing global order and how diverging geopolitical priorities can be turned into a common plan.

There should be more discussion about how military and diplomatic tools can be shared. European leaders should leave their bureaucratic bastion in Brussels and go to the member states to listen to local expectations and to convince European citizens of ambitious economic reforms.

It is this European leg of Europe's Asia strategy that is going to be the most difficult one and introduces a totally different dimension: identity and spiritual power.

Europe has lost its ability to dream, to innovate, and to inspire. The EU has failed to step in with a set of new values and ideals.

Building institutions is one thing, but institutions will not survive if they do not aspire and inspire.

The author is a research fellow at the Brussels Institute of Contemporary China Studies. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn



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