Geoeconomic Relations Between the EU and China: The Lessons From the EU Weapon Embargo and From Galileo

The merging of geopolitical and economic goals, known as geoeconomics, is becoming more and more frequently an important factor of state policies in the age of globalisation and the changing international order. The article offers an analysis of the EU-China relations seen within the increasingly valid geoeconomics perspective. It is focused on two case studies: armament embargo after 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and the Galileo system (a European system of satellite communication). The aforementioned cooperation has laid bare the weakness of European geopolitical thought. It has also demonstrated the supremacy of short-term economic goals of the European actors over strategic goals (both within the economic and the political spheres). In contrast with China, the EU does not possess a coherent geoeconomics strategy.