Can the EU be a Source of Ideas and Soft Power in Asia?

Unlike the United State of America, when it comes to issues of security policy the EU and its individual Member States are no major players in Asia. However, the EU has obligated itself in a number of treaties to act as a “normative power” in its foreign relations. In this regard, the EU’s influence as role model and soft power is apparent in South East Asia’s regionalism as well as Asian discourses on human rights, democracy and good governance.