ThisisthefirstbookonAsiancountries’strategiestowardstheEU.SincetheintroductionofCommonForeignandSecurityPolicyin1993andthepublicationoftheEU’sfirststrategicdocumentonAsiaoneyearlater,hundredsofbooksandjournalarticleshavebeendedicatedtothestudyoftheEUpoliciestowardsAsiaasawhole,ortoindividualAsiancountries.However,veryfewoftheseresearcherseverintendedtoexplorethestrategiesofAsiancountries,andAsianleaders’mindsets,vis-à-vistheEU.Quiteoften,thepoliciesofAsiancountriestowardstheEUweresimplyinterpretedasresponsestotheEU’sactionsinAsia.
Havingbeenpassiveplayersfordecades,Asiancountriesarenowincreasinglywillingtoparticipateintheformulationofregionalandglobalorders,forwhichtheyneedtoarticulatetheirownstrategiesandtheworldneedstobetterunderstandtheirmindsets.Inthepasttwoyears,intheframeworkofEUCentresinAsia-Pacific,sometopAsianscholarsonEU-AsianrelationswerebroughttogethertodebatethestrategiesofindividualAsiancountriestowardstheEU,andevaluatetheEU’sactionsintheregion.Intheireyes,theEUwasinterpretedasanormativepower,asecurityplayer,acivilianpromoterandahealth-caresupplier.Together,theyaimedtoestablishsomecommonrulesforexplainingAsiancountries’strategiestowardstheEUafterin-depthstudyoftheactionsofindividualcountriesintheirbilateralrelationswiththeEU.
ThisbookisthereforeindispensabletoanyeffortstounderstandAsianleaders’mindsetintheEU-AsianrelationsandtheirstrategiestowardstheEUinthetwenty-firstcentury.
TOGETHER INTER UNION COUNTRIES STRATEGIES EUROPEAN TOWARDS
