If the EU remains a mystery to many European citizens, it does not come as a surprise that it is barely known in Asia. “The EU is something far, not like America. I do not really have a precise image of it but it seems a peaceful union,” said Jo Ah-young, a 20-year-old student in Seoul. This reaction encapsulates how the majority of the people living in the most populated continent of the globe perceives the 27-member bloc: a distant and harmless entity that raises some kind of sympathy.

While young Asian consumers, especially female, are attracted to European brands and goods as well as the Old Continent’s slow-paced lifestyle, Europe is never seen as a political actor. Despite the ambition of the European Commission, it is not seen as a player either in the region or on the global stage. “Perceptions of the EU as a political actor that is growing in importance, as a champion of environmental causes and international human rights and as a leading development aid donor remain very much in the shadow of public attention,” concluded Professor Martin Holland from the University of Canterbury, who coordinated a study on the EU’s image in the Asia-Pacific region in 2007.

The research, funded by the Commission, shows that the EU is almost invisible on TV - the most influential media - in Asia, and that its presence in the written press remains very limited. Hence, the EU is ranked only between the fourth and sixth most important foreign partners by the public in Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, South Korea and Thailand. It lags far behind the US. This survey highlights the gap between the perception and the economic reality since the EU has become the second largest economic partner after China in most of these countries, overtaking the US (see separate article). Yet, the public does not perceive this growing presence.

The EU’s invisibility in the Asia-Pacific region raises questions about the ability of the bloc to design and implement an effective communication strategy. While the Delegations of the Commission have limited communication resources, the member states are often business competitors, pushing their national economic interest first and doing little to raise Europe’s visibility. In Seoul, several embassies do not even raise the EU flag. “There is no concerted effort to explain the EU to Asian people,” said Yeo Lay-hwee, director of the EU Centre in Singapore. She also stresses the lack of personnel with genuine Asia experience in Europe.

While Italian, French or German representatives sell Europe’s goods, delicacies or know-how, the EU is seen merely as a bureaucratic and ‘faceless’ institution. “If you want to promote Europe here it is actually more effective to organise a cocktail offering the most tasty EU agricultural products than a conference on the single market. But it is not easy to convince the headquarters in Brussels of this,” a Commission source posted in Asia-Pacific told Europolitics.

In order to bridge the gap, the Commission is opening new EU centres in key universities in Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia. These institutions are supposed to strengthen the expertise about the EU among the educated population, reaching out beyond the academic communities. Seminars, workshops and conferences aim at raising the EU knowledge of business people and policy makers. However, critics stress their limited impact, since they fail to reach a larger audience. “You need to educate teachers in high school,” stresses Park Sung Hoon, professor at Korea University. “In most secondary schools, the EU is invisible,” Martin Holland’s study revealed, stressing the need to “focus on the next generation of the Asian general public”.

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“The EU’s invisibility raises questions about its ability to implement an effective communication strategy”