New Developments in EU's External Trade Policy and Implications for Asia-Europe Relations

Asia-Europe relations have long been overshadowed by the predominance of the United States in the Asian region. The New Asia Strategy and the "Global Europe" strategy of the EU, which are adopted in 1994 and 2006 respectively, however, have changed the posture of the EU towards East Asia. The EU, which was extremely cautious in concluding a full-fledged FTA with non-European countries, has since then been negotiating a number of FTAs with Asian countries. This opens up a series of new opportunities for East Asia to enhance its relationship with the EU. The paper recommends the East Asian countries to pursue a two-track approach in order to fully materialize the potential for strengthening the bilateral relationship.