Perceptions and economic promise as drivers of Foreign Policy: the case of British and German Policy towards China, 1949-2012

Abstract

The web of contacts between Europe and China is rapidly growing denser, but how do European countries frame, develop, and pursue their foreign policy vis-à-vis a distant yet important power like China? Based on extensive documentary analysis of British and German diplomatic sources from various archives this paper examines the legacies, institutional memories, and policy instincts that inform British and German policy towards China. What emerges from the empirical evidence is not how specifically-defined interest guide foreign policy but how often diffuse perceptions, expectations, and economic success influence diplomatic strategies and foreign policy behaviour. The comparative analysis of Britain and Germany is emblematic of the different foreign policy pathways that European countries have taken in their engagement with China. The documentary evidence reveals the difficulties Britain and Germany face in safeguarding their access to China’s opaque regime and casts doubt on the ambition of the EU and its member states to ‘constructively engage’ China and gradually alter its economic and political systems.