C. Raja Mohan
What has often been circumscribed as “the rise of the rest”—the relative ascendancy of the non-Western powers—has been felt particularly acutely in Asia. When the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama reached India’s southwestern Kerala coast in 1498, it marked the start of 500 years of European (and later U.S.) dominance over Asia—colonial, imperial, and geopolitical. Decolonization from the middle of the 20th century onward did not much alter Western dominance, nor did it end Asia’s deference to Europe.
Until now, that is. The rapid growth of Asian economies and the redistribution of global power in favor of the East heralds a new era in the relationship between Europe and Asia. What began as a shift in economic power is now extending to the geopolitical, military, and technological realms.This article is free to read for a limited time. It’s one of a selection of FP’s recent favorites—scroll down to read more.
Europe has already become a military theater for Asian actors. Large-scale deliveries of drones, ammunition, and weapons components from Iran, North Korea, and China are helping Russia fight Ukrainian forces and rain death on civilians in Ukrainian cities. Iranian military advisors have been reported on the ground in occupied Ukraine, although the Iranian government denies their presence there. Beijing, too, is a major supporter of Moscow’s war effort—economically, but also through the delivery of weapons components, even if Beijing has been careful so far in order to avoid Western sanctions.
And just last week, Chinese soldiers arrived in western Belarus, only a few miles from the border of Poland—a NATO member state—for 11 days of joint military exercises dubbed Eagle Assault 2024. China and Russia held their own first joint naval exercises in the Mediterranean Sea last year; joint drills between the two have been taking place in the Baltic Sea since 2017. Slowly but surely, Beijing is making it clear that it has military ambitions in Europe.
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