China’s multi-level approach towards the EU and the major implications for the security sphere: an analysis of China’s current “divide and rule” strategy and the major security challenges for the EU

Details

Supervisors

Struye De Swielande, Tanguy

Faculty

Faculté des sciences économiques, sociales, politiques et de communication

Degree label

Master [120] en sciences politiques, orientation relations internationales, à finalité spécialisée: diplomatie et résolution des conflits

Abstract

Scholars predicted China’s rise a longtime ago. Even Napoleone Bonaparte, almost 200 years ago, warned: “Let China sleep, for when she wakes, she will shake the world”. This was due to the Chinese cultural, economic and military development of the time. Today, China is indeed becoming a superpower, raising rivalry and creating partnerships. This event has disrupted the international order of the post-Cold War era and the repercussions on the international actors were far from minor. Among these, certainly the European Union has not been excluded. This thesis aims at developing indeed the multi-level interactions between China and the EU, analyzing in the specific the fragmented approach deployed by China in dealing with the European Union and its member states, in the context of the overall strategy, known as the “divide and rule” strategy, and the main implications that the EU has to face in the security sphere, especially in terms of Chinese political influence within the Union, in the relations with the US and within the NATO.