| 英文摘要 |
Recent developments point out that the EU is a rising political player and a declining economic player. The evidence is notably related to the European External Action Service (EEAS). Brussels plays an increasingly important role in solving high profile political disputes, such as between Kosovo and Serbia; the member states are happy to ''outsource'' politically sensitive issues such as human rights to Brussels; and the new Lisbon competences help the Union to penetrate even the highest of politics, namely defense. Meanwhile, the image of the Union as a united economic bloc is crumbling. Member states increasingly compete for trade deals, such as with emerging countries; after all, European leaders still have no remedy for the economic crisis. By means of a historical comparison of EU-China relations, this paper tests three hypotheses to figure out the fundamental driving forces of the apparent change in EU actorness. The results of this research shall make a twofold contribution: on the one hand, they should add an understanding of the EU's actorness in the second decade of the twenty-first century; on the other hand, it should help conceptualizing EU-China relations. |