ABSTRACT
This chapter reflects on the development of EUAsia relations since 1994, taking the EU's common policy and strategy for Asia as the prime reference point and focusing specifically on the perceived roles of India and China. An updated version of the EU's Asia Strategy, entitled "Europe and Asia: A Strategic Framework for Enhanced Partnerships" appeared in 2001. However, four elements set it apart from NAS 1994, marking a clear "paradigm shift" in the EU's Asia policy. It turns to the field of policy practice and assesses the role and potential of "interregionalism", both as a tool with which to implement the Asia Strategy and as an instrument to engage India and China. Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM), originally a Singaporean initiative, was created in 1996 as a top-level yet informal dialogue forum aiming to advance interregional rapprochement between Europe and Asia in the political, economic and cultural fields.
