The Practical Role of The EU's Values in Diplomacy with China

Complacency, Self-Censorship and Misunderstanding
1. Auflage 2025
ISBN: 978-1-032-12491-9
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd (Sales)

Buch, Englisch, 258 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm, Gewicht: 367 g

Reihe: Routledge Studies in European Foreign Policy

Delivering a ground-breaking analysis of the EU’s diplomatic meetings (or dialogues) with China, this book reveals how the EU’s values rarely feature in exchanges, due to ingrained cultures of complacency and self-censorship amongst EU officials.

Based on extensive interviews, and focusing on individual perceptions and practices, the book also highlights how intercultural misunderstanding and unreflective beliefs contribute to this troubling status quo with serious implications. Furthermore, these dynamics run contrary to the Lisbon Treaty (2009) – where the EU states that its values inform its external relations – threatening the rules-based order that upholds the universal values and international norms the EU shares. At a time of flux in EU-China relations and geopolitical instability, this book’s timely insights will be of great interest and value to scholars and practitioners alike.

This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of European (Union) foreign policy and diplomacy, EU-China relations, Chinese foreign policy, human rights diplomacy, sustainable development, trade policy and more broadly in European and Asian Studies, and International Relations.

Zielgruppe

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Advanced

Autoren/Hrsg.

Taylor, Max Roger

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Politikwissenschaft Politikwissenschaft Allgemein Politische Studien zu einzelnen Ländern und Gebieten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

1. Introduction: China, the Greatest Test for the EU’s Values and Principles,  Part I: Conceptualising and Contextualising the Role of the EU’s Values in EU-China Dialogues,  2. Defining Value Mainstreaming in the EU’s Diplomacy: A Conduit for the EU’s Normative Power with China,  3. EU-China Dialogues and the Role of Values in a Deteriorating Relationship,  Part II: Complacency and Self-Censorship in the EU’s Diplomacy with China,  4. An Institutional Culture of Complacency,  5. An Institutional Culture of Self-Censorship,  6. The EU-China Human Rights Dialogue: Examining the Reality Behind a Cautionary Tale that Fuels Self-Censorship,  7. The Value Vacuum in the Internal Meetings Coordinating EU-China Dialogues: Illustrating the Institutionalised Nature of Complacency and Self-Censorship,  Part III: Reflectivity and Intercultural (Mis)Understanding in EU-China Dialogues,  8. Value Mainstreaming Approaches and Critical Reflectivity,  9. The Intercultural Barrier to Value Mainstreaming,  Part IV: Assessing the Status Quo of EU-China Diplomacy and Charting a More Principled Future,  10. Partial Mainstreaming and Ad-Hoc Coordination: How the EU’s Values Can Enter EU-China Dialogues without Systematic Action and Why this Falls Short,  11. Conclusions: Reinforcing the Paradigm Shift and Strengthening the EU’s Normative Power with China at a Crucial Juncture,  Appendix I

Über Autor(innen)

Max Roger Taylor is a trained political scientist with a focus on EU-China diplomacy, based in the United Kingdom. He has taught at the University of Bath and the University of Dundee, published in leading academic journals and his experience has included participation in EU-China dialogues.