EU-China relations: De-risking or de-coupling − the future of the EU strategy towards China
As the European Union (EU) prepares for a new round of parliamentary elections, how should the bloc consider its strategy towards China?
To evaluate the EU's policy framework towards China, this study analyses the varied facets of bilateral relations and the EU’s approach towards China, including its policy of de-risking, together with issues relating to China’s domestic politics and foreign policy. It highlights the need for the EU to adopt a coherent vision and a comprehensive and consistent long-term China strategy that can guide its future actions towards China and on the world stage. Based on its findings, it also provides a series of specific recommendations for the EU on the numerous topics analysed in the study.
John Seaman, Research fellow at Ifri's Center for Asian Studies, was a co-author of this study, notably contributed to alysis on the concepts of de-risking and economic security in the EU's relation with China
> The study is available on the European Parliament's website.
The Oceania Factor in France’s Evolving Indo-Pacific Strategy
This paper examines the two-way relationship between France’s Indo-Pacific strategy and developments in Oceania. Oceania was not a priority in the initial years of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, as the region was largely treated as secondary to major strategic hotspots and key partnerships, while overseas territories were primarily handled as domestic issues and recipients of a top-down strategy.
France’s View: From Diplomacy to Public-Private Action
France has emerged as the EU’s IMEC forerunner, combining port infrastructure, diplomatic alliances and public-private cooperation. With Marseille Fos at its core, the country brings a strategic hub for logistics, energy and digital connectivity to the corridor.
Trump II, the Crisis of the Rules-Based Order and Europe’s Indo-Pacific Strategy
This article examines the implications of Trump II for Europe’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific. The piece contends that Trump II is accelerating the erosion of the rules-based order and undermining the relevance of the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) concept, while forcing Europe to refocus on its own continental security amid US retrenchment. Paradoxically, these very constraints create conditions for a more autonomous, pragmatic, and explicitly interest-driven European engagement in the Indo-Pacific, rather than outright withdrawal.
China and Trade in Critical Raw Materials (CRMs)
Critical raw materials (CRMs) have become central features of a new dynamic in global power politics, with China now wielding considerable leverage. Amid rising regional and global uncertainty, resource security is back in the spotlight as a key determinant of sovereignty and national security for Europe, its allies and its partners. The very survival of key, even vital industries, from automotive to aerospace to health to energy to defense, is at stake.