Can the European Union (EU) strive for Strategic Autonomy in an age of intensifying Sino-American competition? This Special Issue published with the Journal of European Integration (JEI) in volume 45, issue 6, and guest edited by Prof. Dr. Luis Simón and Prof. Dr. Daniel Fiott, addresses this overarching question by: 1) unpacking the concept of strategic autonomy; 2) examining how the United States (US) and China exercise influence over European decision-making; 3) analysing how the EU’s internal architecture provides both challenges and opportunities to withstand external influence; and 4) assessing how these dynamics play out in different policy areas and contexts.

The intensifying rivalry between the US and China has become the defining feature of great power politics in the early 21^st century. As the US and China deploy “wedge strategies” to bring different countries and regions on side or deny them to the other side, the question of how to grapple with the intensifying US-China competition has become central for virtually any actor and region in the international system. Because of its economic, technological and diplomatic heft, Europe is an important playground in US-China competition, but it also strives to preserve a significant degree of autonomy from those same great powers. The US and China both understand that Europe’s actions can affect their relative positions in the international system. They have thus combined inducements and coercion to influence European policies on questions ranging from Huawei’s 5G digital infrastructure, sensitive technology transfers, global supply chains, investment restrictions and naval deployments in the Indo-Pacific.

Against this backdrop of intensifying US-China competition, the EU and its member states have sought to pursue greater “strategic autonomy”, while rejecting the notion of equidistance between Washington and Beijing. Concretely, powerful intra-European actors conjugate inducements and coercion to repel external wedging efforts and bind Europeans together around common policies.

This JEI Special Issue seeks to innovate in theoretical and conceptual terms by analysing various aspects of EU policy from the perspectives of “wedging” and “binding”. In this respect, the articles not only attempt to shed new conceptual light on the practice of European strategic autonomy, but also provide new empirical insights into how US and Chinese strategies of wedging and binding affect EU decision-making. Accordingly, the aim is not only to theoretically flesh out the often ill-defined concept of strategic autonomy, but also to stimulate further research engagement.

The special issue is divided into four theoretical and empirical sections. First, the special issue focuses on “theory, concepts and visions”, where it sets the theoretical scene and defines and unpacks the key theoretical underpinnings of the special issue. Second, the special issue looks at the “mechanics of influence” with a specific focus on how Chinese and US influence in Europe functions. Third, in the section title “thematic and empirical investigations”, the special issue develops the theoretical investigation further through three empirical cases. The special issue ends with a concluding article that discusses how the various articles feed into broader IR scholarly debates on wedging, binding and great power competition, and outlines avenues for further research.

The articles in this Special Issue of the Journal of European Integration form part of the deliverables of a European Research Council (ERC) consolidator grant awarded to Prof. Dr. Luis Simón for a research project entitled: Sino-American Competition and European Strategic Autonomy (SINATRA).

Articles

“Player and Playground: Europe in US-China Competition”, by Luis Simón and Daniel Fiott (CSDS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

“Divided We Stand? Examining the European Union’s Ability to Withstand External Wedging”, by Marianna Lovato (Jagiellonian University) and Luis Simón (CSDS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

“The Three Images of EU Strategic Autonomy: Perspectives on Wedging, Binding and Hedging”, by Daniel Fiott (CSDS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

“European Strategic Autonomy as a Double-Edged Sword? US Perspectives in an Era of Sino-American Competition”, by Linde Desmaele (Leiden University)

“Cautious Optimism: Unravelling Chinese Views on European Strategic Autonomy”, by Hongsong Liu and Ruolin Su (Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

“The Unbalanced Transatlantic Relationship: Understanding US Influence in Europe”, by Federico Steinberg and Jeffrey Anderson (Georgetown University)

“Understanding Chinese Influence in Europe: An Institutional (A)symmetry Approach”, by Andreea Budeanu (CSDS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Shaun Breslin (University of Warwick)

“Between Scylla and Charybdis: Navigating EU Strategic Autonomy Amid the US-China Trade War”, by Kristen Hopewell (University of British Columbia)

“The Technological Underpinnings of European Autonomy and US-China Competition”, by Antonio Calcara (CSDS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel), Joris Teer (EU Institute for Security Studies) and Ivan Zaccagnini (LUISS University)

“The European Union’s Strategic Autonomy in Foreign Policy: European Responses to American and Chinese Influence Over the Arms Embargo on China and Taiwan”, by Giulia Tercovich (CSDS, Vrije Universiteit Brussel) and Hugo Meijer (Sciences Po Paris)

“Wedging, Binding and Europe in the US-China Competition: Theoretical and Policy Implications”, by Yasuhiro Izumikawa (Aoyama Gakuin University)

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CODE examines technological competition between China, the United States (US) and Europe in three key sectors for contemporary economics and geopolitics: semiconductors, cloud computing and space. Theoretically, the project aims to integrate analytical tools from international relations, political economy and management and innovation to provide a comprehensive theory to explain the dynamics of competition for access to and control of critical technologies. Methodologically, the project aims to use qualitative and quantitative tools to measure technological competition, as well as markets and patent databases, which will then be analysed using network analysis and machine learning tools. Empirically, the project will focus on three of the most important sectors where technological competition is currently taking place: semiconductors, cloud computing and space technology.

CODE aims to build a multidisciplinary research group, ideally including researchers with quantitative and qualitative skills who are interested in technological and geopolitical competition. The project will zoom in on the following themes:

• technological competition between China, the US and Europe and its geopolitical implications;
• geoeconomics, European strategic autonomy and technological sovereignty;
• China’s industrial and innovation policy;
• the return of industrial policy in the US and Europe;
• the role of digital technologies, big data and artificial intelligence in international politics;
• the role of public and private actors in space policy in China, the US and Europe;
• state-business relations and economic statecraft; and
• the role of commercial technologies and the private sector in the field of security and defence.

For more information on the project, click here.

Funded by the European Union.

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