The Asia Europe Foundation has embarked on a major transnational research project to examine the public, media and opinion leader perceptions of Asia amongst Europeans. The Asia in the Eyes of Europe project will carry out research in eight EU member states (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Romania, U.K) and is a mirror of a well-established ASEF project, The EU through the Eyes of Asia which has examined perceptions of the EU in 12 Asian research locations and will be re-examining some of the major research locations in the near future.
According to the preliminary findings of the “Asia in the Eyes of Europe” Public Opinion Survey, the majority of respondents in each location cited “Trade” as the number one issue for their country’s co-operation with Asia, the second most popular response was “Human Rights and Democracy”, with “Environmental Protection” the third most popular response. This trend is similar to the findings of “The EU through the Eyes of Asia” research project, which highlighted the perception of the EU as a predominantly Economic and Political actor in Asia, though interestingly, the EU was not perceived by a dominant environmental actor among Asian respondents and media.
The most recent findings of “The EU through the Eyes of Asia” research project were presented at a recent Europe-Asia Policy Forum event in Brussels by Dr. Natalia Chaban, Deputy Director of the National Centre for Research on Europe – University of Canterbury, a longstanding partner in the project. To view a video podcast of the presentation, click here.
For more information on the projects structure, methodology and for further findings please visit, http://esia.asef.org.