Strengthening Europe’s democratic identity and security in a more autocratic world
Much attention is rightly being paid to the well-documented tendencies in most of the world’s regions for autocracy to have been gaining some ground in the last two decades at the expense of democracy. Europe has not been immune from the impact of the several megatrends and profound systemic shocks that seem to have been […]
China’s CPTPP membership bid
As the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a regional trade agreement with high thresholds for market liberalisation on regulatory issues, it came somewhat as a surprise that China formally applied to join the 11 member pact on 16 September 2021. Aside from the multitude of geopolitical complications looming large in the region, ranging […]
How can the EU navigate the Indo-Pacific?
To stay ahead of the challenge posed by the shifting geopolitical context, the EU should devise a comprehensive Indo-Pacific strategy and move from joint statement to concrete cooperation with its partners in the region. Connectivity cooperation offers many opportunities to do so. The shift to Asia as the world’s economic centre of gravity has already […]
Extraterritorial sanctions with a Chinese trademark
China has recently updated its laws on the (security) screening of foreign investment, promulgated a new export controls law, drawn up an ‘unreliable entity’ list, and adopted an EU-style statute blocking the extraterritorial jurisdiction of US law. Beijing wages legal warfare (‘lawfare’) against Hong Kong, in the South China Sea, along the Belt and Road, […]
Extraterritorial sanctions on trade and investments and European responses
Recent US measures directed against Iran, Cuba and Russia (North Stream 2) have indirectly become a critical challenge for the European Union as well. As they purport to deter economic actors under EU jurisdiction from engaging with target countries, they have an important extraterritorial dimension that affects EU business and individuals, and ultimately the sovereignty […]