ABSTRACT
This article analyzes preconditions of connectivity according to a strategic differentiation of interactions in the US, China, and the EU. It explains that the various scales of connectivity are conditioned by three kinds of strategic interactions among the major powers mentioned: cooperation, competition, and adversary. In so doing, the article deals with the concept of strategic sovereignty as the self-reliance of major powers (or macro-regions) in key activities; this is expected to be an appropriate ultimate framework, on which various kinds of connectivity are based. First, the article explains the issue by addressing the historical process of the development of economic connections and the interdependence of China and the West since the 1970s and its following partial fragmentation (including the importance of Dual Circulation). Second, it examines the most recent prospects for the next years and their potential. Third, in this complex multilateral transformation of the world, the article formulates the EU approaches to this process, and explains the meaning of strategic sovereignty defined by the major powers. To conclude, China and the countries of the EU have learned step by step in this process how to keep their own strategic sovereignty and, at the same time, how to develop connectivity with their partners in the Belt and Road Initiative and other activities in the new digital era of global interactions.
