Taken together, these two countries account for nearly 40 percent of the global population. They are emerging economies and have been strategic partners of the European Union for years: India, “the world’s largest democracy,” and China, with its one-party socialist system. What role does the European Union play in these Asian countries, and what factors affect the perception of the EU “from outside”? And how does this image affect cooperation? The junior research group “Asian Perceptions of the EU” at the Otto Suhr Institute of Political Science (OSI) took up these questions – with surprising findings.