Portugal, the New Silk Road, and systemic rivalry: contradictions and dilemmas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.34624/ro.v0i1.26202Keywords:
Systemic rivalry, contradiction, dilemmas, Portugal, European Union, ChinaAbstract
The rise of China as a global power has shaken the hegemonic pax americana that followed the bipolar world of the Cold War, significantly changing the contours of international relations. The expected tensions between the US and China, based on the pretext of a ‘trade war’, have assumed a central role in defining these contours, bringing to light the contradictions that, from a Hegelian perspective, make the world to move forward. In this context, the European Union, which simultaneously maintains a strong transatlantic alliance and a consolidated and stable relationship with China, emerges as a privileged setting to support an analysis of the contradictions that mark this context of rapid and complex geostrategic and geo-economic change. These contradictions have gained a new outline with the transformation of the European optimism of 2013 into the ‘systemic rivalry’ of 2019.
This article addresses the contradictions and dilemmas that the EU faces in this new context, highlighting the case of Portugal, but raises more questions than answers.
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