Among the possible steps the EU should consider as part of a revised approach in the region could be the scheduling of an EU-South Asia Summit meeting in the foreseeable future as a signal of encouragement and involvement of a new and enlarged Europe that it will not be turned inward or fixated only on East Asia but instead is prepared to assist a new drive for regional economic and political cooperation there.

Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao began a 12-day visit of four European countries on May 2 in Germany amid growing international concern about the surging Chinese economy’s ability to cope with increased inflation and other weaknesses without bursting the bubble of growth which has fuelled much of the world in recent years.

Relations between the EU and China are stronger and more dynamic than ever before, driven primarily by mutual economic interests but also by both sides’ ambitions to play a bigger global political role than in the past. The EU is looking to increase its presence in China in the hope that some of the country’s economic buoyancy will rub off on Europe. China, as illustrated by its expanding web of economic deals with its neighbours, clearly also wants to be recognised as a more active world player. “We are partners, we share responsibilities,” European Commission President Romano Prodi said at the EU-China summit in Beijing last November.