‘China, The West and the New Asian Century’ Paul Irwin Crookes Seminar at LSE

‘China, The West and the New Asian Century’ Paul Irwin Crookes Seminar at LSE

Paul Irwin Crookes recently participated as both speaker and panel chair in a policy-led seminar entitled ‘China, The West and the New Asian Century’, organised by LSE Ideas at the London School of Economics. Focusing on the twin themes of EU-China relations and the prospects for further economic integration within the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as a regional actor, Paul’s research presentation explored the geostrategic and political tensions in the region in the context of China’s re-emergence as a global power.

Paul’s analysis critically examined Association’s journey towards closer economic ties through the forthcoming ASEAN Economic Community and highlighted some of the challenges that still remain to be bridged. In particular, the presentation questioned the extent to which ASEAN could evolve to become an EU in the Asia region, pointing out the political, cultural and security challenges that the group’s Member States continue to face and how these may act as effective obstacles towards European-style sovereignty pooling into the foreseeable future.