In this introduction the co-editors stress how relevant are, in this book, different narratives, either diachronically or synchronically. The aim is to offer the reader a comprehensive view of the complexity of ways in which the EU, Russia, and China are looking at each other, with mutual suspicion and interest, stemming from the awareness that dialogue is still needed on a number of strategic issues, from trade to economic growth, from fighting criminality and human trafficking to infrastructure and new technologies.
Nonetheless, the general framework of these relations remains open to a variety of developments, in which the prospect of confrontation and cooperation remains at the stake. In particular, the unpredictable effects of American trade protectionism to the detriment of EU and Chinese exports might lead to a reconsideration of the feasibility of the Greater Eurasian Project, that attracted the interest of De Gaulle, Gorbachev, and is currently endorsed by important German foundations, as for example the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Then, the set of international relations would take a far-reaching turn, whose dimensions at the moment are impossible to imagine.