US-China competition and its impact on the security policy of the European Union in East Asia

JALAIE, MOHAMMAD; Rezapoor, Danyal; Azin, Sedigheh

US-China competition and its impact on the security policy of the European Union in East Asia

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Member of the political science and international relations faculty of University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

² Corresponding author: Assistant Professor of International Relations, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

³ Sedighe Azin.. PhD student in International Relations, University of Guilan, Rasht, Iran.

Abstract

China's growing power and assertiveness towards its neighbors in East Asia has been a wake-up call for the European Union to expand its involvement in East Asia. The security policy of the European Union in the region shows many elements of alignment with the United States, but there are still differences; In Northeast Asia, the European Union has imposed severe sanctions against North Korea, but has left the door open for dialogue, unlike the Trump administration, which has continued to seek regime change. In addition, the European Union has repeatedly supported the process of trilateral cooperation between China, Japan, and South Korea in the South China Sea, while Washington has traditionally been opposed to a process that would limit and dominate the United States. Beijing opposes it. Considering the above topics and the limitations of the union in East Asia, the question arises, what are the reasons for the security presence of the European Union in the East Asia region? The hypothesis of the research is that the rise of China's power, the entry of medium regional actors and also extra-regional powers simultaneously with the geopolitical and geoeconomic developments of the South China Sea, and the attempt to increase the political-security influence on the region in order to maintain economic prosperity and stabilize the global identity has caused the balance of power, differences with the hegemon, and the escalation of tensions in the East Asian region has created.

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