THE disintegration of the erstwhile Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) had made the United States of America what Francis Fukuyama called the last man, i.e., when the world order became unipolar. Subsequently, the rise of China, Russia and a wave of regionalism shaped the present multipolar dispensation.

During the course of events, there were a number of things that changed, but one thing that remained constant was the US-Europe alliance. Although Europe and America had been at odds in distant history, but the last 100 or so years have seen the two cooperating firmly in a wide area of interests.

The US-Europe alliance was bonded owing to Nato, democracy, and the common threat from the Soviet Union. The two partners fought together over a dozen wars across various world regions, and cooperated heavily in the fields of arms, trade, economy, politics and technology. However, as they say, there are no permanent friends or foes in global politics. That being so, it is not surprising that the alliance is showing signs of fatigue and strain.

Europe is changing. It is fostering warm relations with other powers like China. Several European leaders have visited China. The most signi-ficant visit was that Emmanuel Macron, the President of France. It was a historic and landmark moment in the relations between China and France, and a serious blow to the decades of American influence over Europe. Macron culminated his visit talking about strategic autonomy of Europe.

Another change in the relations between Europe and China is the European Union’s idea of maintaining closer relations on the basis of ‘de-risking’ while completely abandoning the decoupling strategy. The term de-risking is basically a financial concept that has become a diplomatic buzzword in recent times. De-risking is a policy that aims at reducing reliance over China in the economic sphere, while not doing anything to prevent or chall- enge its economic and strategic growth.

The de-risking concept is a more conciliatory concept than that of decoupling. The de-risking strategy had been in EU consideration for a long time, but it gained momentum at the recent G-7 summit in Hiroshima, Japan.

However, Europe’s wish to attain strategic autonomy and cease to become Washington’s ‘yes man’ is not out of the blue. Washington’s proclaimed alliance implies that Europe must completely depend on the US, and submit to its hegemony.

There are numerous reasons that have made Europe wary of the US. First, the US has always used Europe for its interests. From becoming party to the US during the Cold War to post-9/11 invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, America has always pushed Europe to the front while claiming all the credit.

Second, former US president Donald Trump had unleashed criticism on his European allies, and had called them a burden on the US economy. Joe Biden followed suit, saying Americans pay for the security of Europe.

Europe cannot strain its ties with China, which is the largest trading partner of EU. Annual trade volume between the two is over $800 billion. Europe largely relies on China for import of rare earth minerals and semiconductors for its tech industry.

Europe wants to enjoy an independent foreign policy for securing its strategic autonomy and to choose freely in economic and strategic matters. It has been rightly said that when the US calls you its ally, it is actually saying that it is the boss. Although late, Europe finally seems to have understood the core of this statement and decided that it cannot continue being a critic of China merely because US wants it to.

The days when critical global decisions were taken by a small number of powerful parties behind closed doors are long gone. The future of humanity lies in multilateralism, regionalism and in sharing economic, social and political growth.

The human race cannot afford to be pushed back to the Stone Age for a particular country’s interests. There-fore, ruthless military and economic rivalries have no place in attaining a sustainable future.

The planet is one, and humanity should be the major concern rather than serving vested interests of this power or that. It is time for the global community to opt for a paradigm shift and focus on harmony and common good.

Zain ul Abdin Jessar
Larkana

Published in Dawn, November 22th, 2023