ABSTRACT
This chapter explores European, in particular European Union (EU), policy towards China. The chapter argues that the EU’s China policy is underpinned by a liberal logic, in particular a liberal institutionalist logic. This liberal logic reflects the assumption (or the hope) that the establishment of institutions linking actors together can – over time – build trust between them, help to resolve conflicts and promote the convergence of policies and interests. Within the academic study of international relations (IR), this reflects what is known as liberal institutionalist theory, and academics have sought to explore the processes whereby institutions operate and the extent of empirical evidence to support liberal institutionalist hypotheses. More broadly, as a real-world political project, the EU reflects the same liberal institutionalist logic. This chapter assesses the impact of the institutionalisation of EU–China relations. It argues that while the institutionalisation of the EU–China relationship has produced a quite robust pattern of bilateral diplomatic and policy dialogue, and in some cases resulted in policy convergence between the two partners, there are also significant limits to institutionalisation as a means of overcoming important differences between the two actors (especially those related to domestic political systems and key politico-territorial conflicts).
