Craig Willy, an EU affairs writer and a journalist with the German Press Agency (DPA), writes in a blog post that Economic development in China and other Asian countries has an impact on the role of European states in global affairs.
He argues that with the rise of Asian economies, the world is increasingly moving away from the model of free trade championed by Europe and other states in the West.
Unless Europe becomes a more cohesive actor which is capable of convincing other nations to respect Western legal and commercial principles, it will find itself forced to adapt to the East Asian development model.