Abstract Amid the reconfiguration of the post-Cold War world order since the mid-2000s, the evolution of the European Union's positioning towards China has been primarily a response to the constraints imposed by the relative decline of US hegemony and episodes of erosion of the transatlantic link, as well as by the growing US–China rivalry. Seeking to elucidate the evolution and implications of the EU's navigation of this rivalry amid China's rise, including in the Indo-Pacific, this article scr