EU's Asia pacific policy: The case of China

In the 20th century, due to the developments in the World and changing global conditions, new actors were added to the international area in that period. One of the actors that emerged within this framework and still remains one of the most influential actors of the system is the European Union. The main reasons of EU's occurrence were to restore the European countries' economic system which had been deteriorated after the Second World War and to maintain a peaceful atmosphere in European continent without any war. On the other hand, another important actor which was emerged in that century was the People's Republic of China that was reborn in 1949 and ongoing her rising from Asia-Pacific and became a candidate for being the superpower of the world. Since they came out on the World stage, these two important actors have followed a variety of policies against each other like economic, political and military. Today, these two actors want to play an important role to be on top of the summit. So, The EU is transformed a regional organization to a global actor, China is transformed into a superpower rather than a strong state in Asia-Pacific. In this period of multipolar World order, the struggle to make a balance between international actors became deeper. The EU whose basis goes back to 60 years ago and that is still one of the most effective actors of the system today takes its place in this power and balance race in the system. Therefore, the Asia- Pacific geography has become one of the areas where the EU intensifies its interest. Keywords: European Union, Common Foreign and Security Policy, Security, Asia-Pacific, Trade