The EU and China – reconciling interests and values in an age of interdependence * The dilemma between economic interests and human rights Uwe Wissenbach, Delegation of the EU European Commission to Korea Abstracts The paper examines the underlying tension in the EU-China strategic partnership between the EU's normative foreign policy and China's sovereignty driven realist agenda. 1) How do the EU's relations with China fit the EU's ethical and normative foreign policy? How can a value-based foreign policy come to terms with power politics? How universal are the values and norms professed by the EU? 2) How to reconcile the EU-China strategic partnership with the different approaches China takes on core issues of sovereignty, human rights, democracy etc. in the UN and in the developing world? 3) How to conceive of China's international responsibility for global governance with its insistence on non-interference in domestic affairs of other countries? In his attempt to answer these three questions the author looks first at the changing paradigm of international politics, the de-Westernisation of globalisation, driven in particular by China. The EU's strategy to deal with this new phenomenon is the focus of the research. The author argues that China's crucial role in shaping international politics of the 21st century may be defined by the opposition of so-called Confucian values and Western democracy. The author, however, rejects the equation of Confucian values with authoritarianism, citing Korea as a counter-example. The author then turns to the EU's normative agenda and the challenges it faces. The human rights policy is the focus of the second section which outlines the EU's ethical dilemma in its efforts to pursue its interests on the one hand and promoting human rights on the other. An example of this dilemma is given in the third section which provides insights into the apparent competition between the EU and China in Africa. Concluding this critical examination of the EU-China partnership, the author argues that while the de­Westernisation of global politics driven by China's rise poses a series of fundamental challenges to the EU's normative foreign policy this process does not necessarily lead to a new round of ideological confrontation. Rather policy-makers can shape the future of global politics by forging cooperative patterns based on shared interests. However, the EU's global agenda will have to adapt to new forces that challenge the norms it stands for. But so will China have to adapt to international society. Introduction In 2009 it will have been 20 years that the EU has imposed economic sanctions and an arms embargo on China after the bloody intervention on Tian An Men Square. 2009 will also mark the 50 th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's flight to India and thus discussions on human rights and democracy in China will surely continue to make headlines a year after the Olympics in Beijing. * The author works for DG Development in the European Commission. This article only reflects his private views and can in no way engage the European Commission. 1