Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

In the past few years, China has exhibited a rising assertiveness in international relations, including trade, although its official grand strategy remains "Peaceful Development." Examples of this contradictory trajectory are China's rare earth elements export restrictions (assertive) and the One Belt, One Road initiative (peaceful). This article seeks to establish, on the one hand, whether or not these examples are conforming to or diverging from "Peaceful Development," and therefore actually a manifestation of the alleged rising assertiveness on China's part, and on the other hand, identify the reason why China is acting ambivalently. To accomplish this, this article gives historical-cultural …

This study examines the determinants of the European Union’s strategic engagement with China, with reference to three competing analytical approaches: institutional, social, and agency/stakeholder. The article examines the utility of each claim and outlines complementary variables amongst the three approaches, with the aid of recent evidence looking at the E.U.’s arms embargo on China, E.U.-China engagement in Africa, and the E.U.’s longstanding dispute on granting China market economy status. The findings can reduce the misunderstandings and uncertainties embedded in European Union-China interactions by demystifying the factors and variables that drive their relationship.