Increased Relevance for EU Policy and Actions in the South China Sea

Abstract

The EU has always had reason to pay attention to developments in the South China Sea. The world’s largest trading block has a vital economic interest in safeguarding free, safe and stable shipping corridors, especially those connecting it to economic powerhouses in East Asia. Northeast Asian countries constitute the Union’s most important export market and source of FDIs, with China being its second largest trading partner, and trade with Japan alone standing for 25% of global GDP. EU is also ASEAN’s second largest trading partner, and ASEAN is correspondingly the third largest for the EU. In addition to economic interests, Brussels has also legal and political commitments to regional stability, stemming from its accession to the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) in 2012 and its membership in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Finally and most importantly is the rationale behind the SCS disputes: China’s unilateralism and the threat it represents for the rules-based global order that has been keeping Europe, positioning itself as a normative superpower, on its toes.