Insight
European policy in Asia: Getting past mercatorism and mercantilism by Ian Bond 7 September 2017
Asia is a dangerous place, and closer to Europe than most Europeans think. They cannot leave Trump’s America to tackle all Asia’s security problems. Europe is not half as worried as it should be about the security situation in Asia, or half as engaged in dealing with it. In recent days North Korea carried out its sixth and most powerful test of a nuclear weapon, and launched a number of missiles of varying ranges. It is unlikely that any negotiations, sanctions or sabotage can now stop North Korea becoming the ninth country in the world to have useable nuclear weapons; and military action to prevent it would have catastrophic consequences in the region and beyond. But North Korea is only one of the current security crises in the Asia-Pacific region. China’s increasing military power and assertiveness, especially in the South China Sea, has led to tension with a number of neighbouring countries as well as with the US. In August, Indian and Chinese forces “jostled” each other in disputed territory in the Himalayas (fortunately no-one started shooting). In the Philippines, Islamist extremists linked to the so-called Islamic State have called on foreign jihadis to join them in fighting government forces on the southern island of Mindanao. Europe’s reaction to most of these crises is limited. The EU and the UK have been quick to condemn North Korea’s nuclear test, and will no doubt support additional UN sanctions on Pyongyang. But the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, has acknowledged that “none of the military options are good”. The EU’s high representative for foreign and security policy, Federica Mogherini, has said that denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula can only be achieved through peaceful means; she has not said what could be done to improve on previous failed attempts to persuade the North Korean regime to give up its nuclear weapons programmes. European powers struggle even more to agree a firm line on issues involving China. The Philippines took China to the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague in 2013 to challenge China’s claim to most of the South China Sea; when Manila won its case in 2016, EU member-states could only agree to CER INSIGHT: European policy in Asia: Getting past mercatorism and mercantilism 7 September 2017
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