THE EUROPEAN UNION AND CHINA: INDIAN PERCEPTIONS AND PERSPECTIVES
In: The European Union and ChinaPurchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
Both China and India are important partners for the European Union (EU) because of their demography, large domestic markets of a billion plus each, significant energy-consumption patterns, and because they are vital for resolving regional problems as well as global issues. However, Beijing has been - and continues to be - more central to European interests than New Delhi because of its political clout, its economic potential, the substantially higher economic stakes, and trade. As a result, there is a variable engagement of the Union towards the two rising Asian powers and a qualitative difference in the attention and focus given by the European Union to China than India. This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section begins with a discussion of how the EU perceives India and China. The second section discusses Indian perceptions of EU-China relations. The third one highlights some similarities in the Chinese and Indian approaches towards the EU. The concluding section outlines several lessons that India can learn from China’s engagement of the EU.