Suchergebnisse

President Park's efforts to promote unification of the Korean Peninsula centres around 'Trustpolitik' with the North East Asian Peace and Cooperation Initiative (NAPCI) at its focal point. NAPCI is built on three pillars: First, trust-building with the DPRK concentrates on the divided peninsula with unification as the ultimate goal; secondly, NAPCI addresses the entire sub-region (comparable to the European Neighbourhood Policy) while, thirdly, the Eurasia Initiative docks onto the various connectivity or 'One Belt, One Road' initiatives by ASEAN and China respectively. In overcoming the legacies of its own past European states opted for deep integration in founding the European Union (EU).Therefore the article discusses the concept of 'Trustpolitik' and its implementation, deals with the challenges posed for NAPCI in the regional context, analyses the EU's potential to contribute to the Initiative in highlighting positive examples of regional cooperation and trust-building in the European context and indicates how the EU could play a positive role in developing the Initiative.

Over the course of several decades the relationship between Japan and the EU has transformed from one focused on economics and trade into one that is a more comprehensive and 'strategic partnership'. This has been built on the EU and Japan sharing common values, principles and interests. It has also grown as a result of globalisation and the new security challenges that both have had to face, although the return of geopolitics could shift relations back towards traditional security. This policy brief focuses on the political and security aspects of the EU-Japan relationship. Given Europe's links to East Asia, the EU has a stake in East Asia's security in much the same way as East Asia has a stake in the security of Europe. This policy brief therefore asks whether Japan is a genuine partner for the EU in managing relations with the broader region of East Asia and whether Japan regards the EU to be a genuine strategic partner.

While the importance of culture in international relations was recognized during the ideological competition of the Cold War, the 'end of history' also wrongfully led to disregard this important element until the Arab Spring and Islamic fundamentalism sounded an alarm clock. On the other hand, modern diplomacy is no longer exclusively based on politics and economics but adds the people-to-people and cultural pillar which is transnational in nature. In implementing this approach the EU appears at first side hindered by the Member States' reluctance to concede competences in culture and education to the European level while leveraging European strength based on diversity and tolerance is a particularly important tool when dealing with a large partner like China which does not share core values with the EU while presenting an Asian model of success at least in terms of economic development. Choosing China as test case for starting a European cultural diplomacy with the potential of world-wide enlargement is a bold project which allows studying the various facets of culture and cultural diplomacy as well as the relevant discourses.As the initiative emanated from the European Parliament which subscribes to the notion of 'European culture' some expected obstacles did not occur although the implementation of the concept still needs further political traction.

This article aims at demonstrating through examples that the EU's longstanding engagement in Asia with ASEAN and Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) in addition to bilateral relations progressively and in line with the new understanding of the EU as a comprehensive political actor in international relations extends beyond trade and economics, e.g., security matters. This growing engagement predates the US pivot but seeks to complement US efforts and tries to carve out a niche for EU policies in the rearrangement of power-relations and the emerging institutional architecture of the region. It links up with the special EFAR issue on a European Approach to Comprehensive Security in highlighting the EU's comprehensive approach to security, focusing on experience in non-traditional security threats and drawing on its historic experience of trust and confidence building, conflict prevention and management, all public goods in short supply in the region. If the EU acts coherently it could have a higher degree of credibility in supplying these goods than other players in the region (China, Japan, US) thereby countering through concrete initiatives the narrative that the EU is neither present in nor relevant for Asia.

While the importance of culture in international relations was recognized during the ideological competition of the Cold War, the 'end of history' also wrongfully led to disregard this important element until the Arab Spring and Islamic fundamentalism sounded an alarm clock. On the other hand, modern diplomacy is no longer exclusively based on politics and economics but adds the people-to-people and cultural pillar which is transnational in nature. In implementing this approach the EU appears at first side hindered by the Member States' reluctance to concede competences in culture and education to the European level while leveraging European strength based on diversity and tolerance is a particularly important tool when dealing with a large partner like China which does not share core values with the EU while presenting an Asian model of success at least in terms of economic development. Choosing China as test case for starting a European cultural diplomacy with the potential of world-wide enlargement is a bold project which allows studying the various facets of culture and cultural diplomacy as well as the relevant discourses. As the initiative emanated from the European Parliament which subscribes to the notion of 'European culture' some expected obstacles did not occur although the implementation of the concept still needs further political traction. Adapted from the source document.

Size of membership, diverging interest because of different stages of development and the depth of regulation undertaken or foreseen in the World Trade Organization (WTO) made the economics and politics of international trade negotiations more complicated. This has repercussions on the negotiating mechanics in the WTO including the continued appropriateness of the technique of 'rounds'. At the same time, the rational of further trade liberalization in the context of sustainable development is questioned. The widening scope of issues covered – which impact of domestic policies give raise to – quests for more transparency and accountability. The lack of adequate know-how renders the effective participation of developing countries in the negotiating round more difficult or even impossible. New forms of network formation – drawing on the many forms of international cooperation, participation and agenda setting – have to be developed in order to maintain the WTO as the centre of the multilateral rule-based system.