By Bernt Berger
What role does the EU have in East Asia security?
The debate about the EU’s role in East Asia security is as old as its common Security and Defense Policy, and has always been controversial. With new strategic and security scenarios evolving the question remains what Europeans can and should do. As usual, the answers cannot be any better than the questions being asked.
Debates about the EU’s role in Asian security tend to depart from principled ideas about the primacy of trade relations vs. normative foreign policy, soft power politics vs. strategic military power or alignment vs. neutral brokership. The EU has in part contributed to this. The principles of the Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) did not resemble any collective defense system such as NATO. Rather, CSDP sought to complement NATO by building up a military force (or battle-group) that could respond to international crises on short notice.
The focus on humanitarian issues and state-failure added to the normative reputation of European security priorities. Additionally, the EU was criticized for its strong focus on trade and investment relations both with China and East Asia as a whole, while ignoring strategic security interests. More recent criticism targets the lack of military capabilities of the EU and individual member states with which to back up their political and economic influence in the Mediterranean and East. Given resistance by national legislators, any integrated common defense policy is a long way down the road.
However, many expectations are unfounded, for various reasons. First, beyond trade the implementation of EU’s external relations has been more opportunistic than strategic and thus more adapting to possibilities than grand designs. Second, in so doing the EU has been very pragmatic and issues oriented, according to its own abilities. Thus any criticism should target the EU’s capabilities to act or the type of issues that it is addressing.
Read the full story at The Diplomat