ASEAN and the European Union face the challenge of the New Silk Roads: division or coherence?[L'ASEAN et l'Union Européenne face au défi des nouvelles routes de la soie: division ou cohérence ?]

This book chapter analyses the Belt and Road Initiative in Southeast Asia and Europe. It shows the attractiveness of the Chinese initiative for the host countries but also the political and economic challenges it involves: the sudden massive presence of Chinese companies, the new financial dependence on Chinese loans that will have to be paid back, and the political ties it establishes with China's diplomacy. This may destabilise both ASEAN and the EU, which are ill-prepared to defend a common attitude vis-à-vis China. Confronted with the creation of the "Cooperation between China and Central and Eastern European Countries" (China-CEE, China-CEEC) initiated in 2012, the EU struggled to maintain its unity like ASEAN before in the South China Sea conflict. The EU policy in Southeast Asia and towards ASEAN lacks ambition and means and is a poor alternative to China's BRI. We conclude that the EU must change its policy towards ASEAN and propose more than new free trade agreements