The international arena is increasingly heading towards a multipolar model in which US hegemony is challenged by the EU and China

China has emerged as a growing power in the international arena. Hanne Cuyckens assesses the EU’s relationship with the country and the potential for both actors to challenge the United States as the dominant global power. While China and the EU have both advocated a multipolar model, in which US hegemony is balanced by other powers, the two actors have very different conceptions of how this model should be realised.