US and EU Perspectives and Responses to China’s Strategic Challenge

Abstract

The United States and European Union (EU) have both come to recognise how China’s growing economic and military power, in conjunction with its authoritarian domestic policies, poses a strategic threat not only to their own interests but also to the values of the post-war liberal international order. Nonetheless, they have been unable to present a cohesive response to this challenge as a result of troubled trans-Atlantic relations as well as growing divisions within the EU, fuelled in part by China’s expanding influence in Europe. This paper offers recommendations on how the United States and Europe might be able to repair trans-Atlantic relations and work to counter China’s state-driven technology policies, reform the WTO and establish standards for global infrastructure development. On the security front, they should uphold the 2016 international court ruling and directly challenge China’s maritime claims by conducting more frequent joint naval operations in the region. Finally, they need to work with NGOs to publicise China’s gross human rights violations while expanding ties with Taiwan to bolster its democracy against Chinese coercion. These efforts should underscore that China can no longer benefit from the current system by taking advantage of its rules and norms but should, instead, abide by and help to maintain and strengthen this rules-based order.