EU-China Discourse on Multipolarity and Multilateralism: Mutual Interaction?

Abstract:

This article looks at the diplomatic rhetoric invoked by the EU and China. Both actors are keenly aware of soft power attractiveness. Both actors are sensitive over the role of public diplomacy - policies and language - in generating soft power profiles. In this domain of public diplomacy language, both actors use the terms 'multipolarity' and 'multilateralism' in their discussion of their relationship in particular, and the international system in general. Yet each side emphasizes one more than another and each side treats the concept differently. This convergence and divergence over relative use of multipolarity and multilateralism indicates the role of strategic language, it indicates some of the limits of norm-based analysis and policies, and perhaps indicates the (soft power) non-traditional security areas where the EU-China strategic partnership can push forward on, as well as indicating (certain hard power) areas that are not particularly meaningful, despite the rhetoric.