Abstract
AbstractThe European Union's partnership with China has received significant academic attention. Experts have focused on both parties’ economic and political objectives and have made efforts to grasp the dynamics of the institutionalisation of EU-China cooperation. However, little has been said about how this collaboration affects the lives of citizens, especially in China. Adopting a Foucauldian epistemology, this article's key contention is that EU-China cooperation imposes a joint form of post-liberal governmental power on the Chinese population, which socially constructs empowered but not liberal political subjectivities for Chinese citizens. The article first reviews Foucault's approach to governmentality. It then explores Sino-EUropean collaboration after 2013, when the two partners established the ‘EU-China 2020 Strategic Agenda for Cooperation’. We illustrate how the institutionalisation of the partnership has been consistent with a governmentalised political rationality, and how policy implementation has allowed a post-liberal form of governmental power to flow from both EU and Chinese policymakers towards the Chinese population, triggering processes of political subjectivisation.
Highlights
In a 2014 speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised the importance of China’s relationship with the European Union (EU)
Does Sino-EUropean cooperation affect the lives of Chinese citizens and, if so, how is that possible and with what sociopolitical implications? We argue firstly that the collaboration between the two sides imposes a joint form of governmental power over the Chinese population, which becomes feasible due to the post-liberal governmentalisation of both the institutionalisation and policy implementation of Sino-EUropean cooperation
In contrast to the majority of scholarly voices focusing on how difference in norms and values hinders EU-China relations, we suggest here that such differences may not be as significant as argued and that issues often associated with liberal politics neither precondition the application of Sino-EUropean governmental power nor impede the social construction of certain political subjectivities for the EU, Chinese statesmanship, and the Chinese citizenry
Summary
In a 2014 speech at the College of Europe in Bruges, Belgium, Chinese President Xi Jinping emphasised the importance of China’s relationship with the European Union (EU). He stated that despite cultural, societal, economic, and political differences, the two sides together account for ‘one tenth of the total area on Earth and one fourth of the world’s population’ in addition to ‘one third of the global economy’, suggesting great potential for Sino-EUropean cooperation.. The interactions between the two major global players reflect their priorities and concerns towards each other, and key global trends of the past few years All of these issues are much refracted in the rhetoric of the two partners.
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