Recently, the tension of US -Europe relations led by NATO and the US and European tariffs has been on the headlines from time to time.Asians should worry about this, because the nervousness of the United States and Europe also affect Asia.We should not be indifferent to US -Europe relations, there are three reasons for specifics.
First of all, for groups with basic values such as freedom, human rights, and democracy, they should worry about the attenuation of NATO reputation.US President Trump has been criticizing NATO and reported that he also threatened to withdraw from the alliance.The situation in Europe is of course different from Asia.However, if the US President told Asian allies: We will not help Europe, but will we work hard to defend Asia. Is this credible?The answer is obviously negative.
If NATO's reputation is attenuated, this situation can be regarded as a sign: the United States' willingness to maintain its alliance system is universally reduced, which will inevitably affect Asia.Therefore, some people in Asia should not be gloated to the issue of NATO.
Secondly, Europe will get closer to China with the tension between the United States and Europe.As long as there is a dispute between US -Europe relations, we can naturally speculate that Europe will seek other partners as insurance at least one insurance.China has undoubtedly become the first choice for Europe. It claims that China is a better and reliable partner than the United States. It has many common views and concerns with Europe, especially in terms of free trade, climate change and Iran.
Although there are policy objections between the United States and Europe, there are obviously more common points between the two.However, in some parts of Europe, this basic facts have been submerged in the emotions of anti -Trump.
Europe is not so naive to mdash; mdash; To be precise, it is not as naive before, it may not accept Beijing's publicity slogan.However, it must be remembered that at the beginning of the new century of Bush's administration, Sino -European relations have naturally occurred because of the deterioration of US and European relations.
Treat the US -Europe relations more seriously
In the end, Europe may become more introverted in the future, which is partially attributed to its contradiction between it and Washington.The concepts of strategic autonomy and European sovereignty are becoming more and more popular, which will cause Europe to become more important to a certain extent, at least in the short term.Because unity in Europe is a prerequisite for achieving the above goals.In short, Europe has sufficient reasons to pay attention to internal problems, rather than actively maintain the international order under existing rules.
There is no spiritual cricket in the above problems.But Asia has to do at least two things.First of all, we must treat the US -Europe relations more seriously, including the most important way for the United States to treat Europe.The Trump regime believes that the Indo -Pacific region has great strategic significance, and Washington's strategic ideas are also unwavering, that is, more attention to challenges from China.
However, in fact, in the past few years, Trump has pushed out many important Asian multilateral meetings, such as the East Asian Summit (2018 and 2019) and APEC (Asia -Pacific Organization Summit, 2018), and go to Europe to participate in the NATO Summit, World Economic Forum and other multilateral meetings.Since January 2017, Trump has visited Europe 11 times and six times in Asia (including two meetings with Kim Jong -un).These evidences have brought a question: Does the United States really turn the strategic focus to Asia?
The US -Europe relations have always been many aspects, with both cooperation and contradictions.Prior to the announcement of the Asian century, we still have to understand the nature of US -Europe relations, especially the way Washington treats it between it and Europe.
Recently, a headache between the United States and Europe is whether China Huawei should be completely banned from participating in 5G construction in Europe or allowing it to participate in part.
The Trump administration is putting pressure on Huawei; what is concerned is that, including the British's closest European allies, some European countries are resisting the intervention of the United States.The result of this incident may be far more than the situation of Europe itself.
Secondly, with the increasingly complicated situation of Asian politics and security, and the relative decline of American forces, Asia may use Europe to better respond to the region and other challenges.It is impossible for Europe to replace the United States' position in the region, and few Asians want Europe to replace the United States.However, the need to find alternatives and supplementary partners seems to be increasing.
In Asia, relations with the United States have always been important affairs. People are always talking about this country, and at least the business community and officials responsible for European affairs will also pay attention to Europe.
However, the important impact of US -Europe relations on international relations will often be ignored in Asia's diplomatic and security policies. Some people may say that the importance of US -Europe relations is decreasing, and the author fully agrees with this view.But despite this, the importance of US -Europe relations is still higher than what many Asians think.
(The author is an associate professor at Qingying Yiluo University in Japan)
