OVERVIEW
ASEF is leading a major research project, “Asia in the Eyes of Europe,” to answer this question. The two-year research project was carried out in eight EU member states and looks at the media, public, and opinion leader perceptions of Asia across Europe. The final results of this project are made available through the “Asia in the Eyes of Europe – Images of a Rising Giant”, released in June 2012.
The research project provides valued comparability to “The EU through the Eyes of Asia,” a previous ASEF study looking at perceptions of the EU across Asia. The research provides feedback to policy makers and non-government actors shaping policy across Europe. The project has conducted a public opinion survey of over 6,000 respondents in collaboration with an ongoing research initiative at the London School of Economics. The media research team carried out daily analysis of 29 national media outlets across Europe — including BBC, Le Monde, Suddeutsche Zeitung, and Euronews – collecting over 2,700 articles. The final phase of the research project involved interviews with over 100 European media professionals on their perceptions of Asia.
In addition to perceptions of Asia, researchers also tracked perceptions of the ASEM process, included the ASEM 8 summit in 2010.
