Posts in Europe and the Indo-Pacific
Sino-Hungarian relations: Xi’s ‘Trojan Horse’ in the EU

Written by Perle Petit

By asserting its autonomy and crafting an alternative narrative about possible relations with China, particularly against the EU’s attempts at creating a unified foreign policy stance, Hungary has positioned itself as a ‘Trojan horse’ for Beijing to embed itself in the EU.

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Chartering a course for peace: EU-Philippines maritime security cooperation

Written by Daniela Braun, Marie Antoinette de Jesus, and Sophiya Navarro

Increasing EU-Philippine maritime security cooperation is a positive development that reflects both actors’ mutual interests and values, as well as their willingness to engage with each other and other Indo-Pacific actors.

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Balancing on fumes: What drives France in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Dylan Motin

France’s Indo-Pacific strategy mainly arises from the fear of China. Despite French official discourse, it is clearly on the American side of the containment fence and will remain there for the foreseeable future.

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German submarines for India: An arsenal for democracies?

Written by Hendrik A. Pasligh

As the European arms industry scrambles to manage the needs of and lessons from Russia’s war against Ukraine, Germany has sought to rekindle its defence-industrial cooperation with India.

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NATO’s future in the Indo-Pacific: Tilt or jilt?

Written by Mathieu Droin

The limitations of what NATO can offer or execute in the Indo-Pacific raise the question of whether there may be other more appropriate frameworks to publicly tackle shared security challenges between the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific.

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Germany’s new China Strategy – A roadmap for climate foreign policy

Written by Belinda Schäpe

Germany’s China Strategy is a first attempt to address climate change in a key foreign policy strategy, encapsulating all related areas, and going beyond empty cooperation rhetoric.

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Parting ways? The uncertain future of the Belt and Road Initiative in Italy

Written by Francesco Giovanni Lizzi

While an automatic continuation of the MoU might dissuade a Chinese reaction, it would squander the political capital invested to reassure the American allies. Conversely, exiting the Initiative would complicate Chinese-Italian relations even further since an alternative agreement with Beijing would be needed.

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The transatlantic puzzle in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Mathieu Droin

The brewing Indo-Pacific architecture is inherently “flexilateral” due to the breadth of factors and the rapidly changing stakes that determine its many actors’ positions.

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China’s Belt and Road Initiative in Central and Eastern Europe: stuttering to a halt?

Written by Dr Jeremy Garlick

The BRI’s unfulfilled potential in the region leaves the connectivity and cooperation aims of the initiative largely on the shelf, with the main successes for China located in Western Balkan countries that are not EU members.

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Guns before butter? Multi-dimensional diplomacy in China-Europe relations

Written by Dr William Hurst

The bet that security fears could be addressed to allow the resumption of progress on trade did not pay off. China lost a significant opportunity to re-open more fully to the world and deepen its economic ties with arguably its most important trading partner (the Eurozone).

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France in the Indo-Pacific: Not so ambivalent after all

Written by Gesine Weber

If France wants to seize the opportunity for asserting leadership among Europeans on the Indo-Pacific, it will also be up to the President to preach what the country already practices.

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Forum: Russia’s war and the international order — one year on

9DASHLINE asks several experts to assess what Russia’s war in Ukraine means for the international order and what the consequences may be for issues in the Indo-Pacific.

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Sweden's EU presidency and the Indo-Pacific: A letter from Stockholm

Written by Axel Nordenstam

As Ukraine is the top European priority, it would make sense for Indo-Pacific partners to consider joint projects in and for Ukraine. The reconstruction of Ukraine could benefit from such cooperation.

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The EU and Taiwan, partners for human rights and the defence of democracy

Written by Dr Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy

The world has taken note that Taiwan sits on the frontline of authoritarianism, whereby not only its own democracy, but democracy at large is under threat. It is in this context that Taiwan’s relevance, its global profile and, most importantly, its readiness to defend democracy must be appreciated.

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Italy-China relations under Meloni: Less hard-line than expected

Written by Lorenzo Lamperti

Unable to presently guarantee total alignment when it comes to sharing the American point of view on Russia and the current war in Ukraine, Meloni has chosen to present herself as fully aligned with Washington on the Chinese front.

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2023: EU decoupling from China?

Such a move would suggest that Brussels was giving in to Washington’s demands instead of pursuing its own objectives. Perhaps counterintuitively, a decoupling from China would therefore be at odds with European calls for strategic autonomy.

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2023: The future of CEE-China relations

9DASHLINE asked a select group of experts to assess Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries’ relations with China and how they expect them to evolve in 2023.

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The Bundeswehr in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Rafael Loss and Elisabeth I-Mi Suh

Adopting a rather transactional take and framing the Bundeswehr’s regional engagement in the context of Washington’s focus on China is not wrong, but it is short-sighted.

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