This article examines EU–Asia development relations from the perspective of evolving paradigmatic debates on development. In so doing, it performs two functions. First, it highlights the way in which this development theory lens can provide additional insights into EU development relations, supplementing existing analytical frames and providing further depth to explanations of policy choice and development relationships. Second, it outlines the changing shape of EU development relations with Asia, from an initial side-lining of issues of development through to the reorientation and normalisation that has been evident since 2000. This dynamic is attributed to the intersection of two elements: (i) the Union’s perception of the Asian region; and (ii) the evolution in its conceptualisation of development, informed by exogenous theoretical debates. It is to the initial dissonance and subsequent congruence between these factors that the EU’s changing orientation towards development in Asia may, at least in part, be attributed.