Paper by prof. Jonathan Holslag on the Sino-European security partnership

DEN HAAG (PDC) - In his paper entitled "The Paper Partnership: Security in the Sino-European Relations", prof. Jonathan Holslag (speaker at the Europe Lecture 2014) evaluates the extent of cooperation between Europe and China since the creation of their strategic partnership in 2003.

The strategic partnership between China and Europe is marked by increased interaction and dialogue. In the last decade the two partners have identified a number of common security interests. However, only very few concrete joint actions have been initiated.

In his paper Jonathan Holslag notes an interesting evolution in China's viewpoint on the desirability of security cooperation with the EU. Beijing has shown increasingly eager to upgrade the security dimension of the Sino-European partnership. At the same time China has doubts about Europe's capacity in the field of security affairs. This lack of confidence in the EU as a security actor has only become more pronounced in light of Europe's weak response to the recent security crises in its neighbourhood.

By offering an evaluation based on conversations with Chinese experts in Brussels and Beijing, Holslag provides us some specific insights about a third party's perception of Europe as an actor in security affairs.

You can read the paper here.