David McAllister wrote that Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are facing increasingly similar challenges, which is why we need to work closely and coordinate with our regional partners to meet these challenges.
MEP David McAllister is the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (AFET) of the European Parliament.
In recent years, the EU and its member states have become increasingly aware of the geostrategic importance of the Indo-Pacific region.
With 60% of the world’s population, including more than 1.5 million French EU citizens, the region has become a key shaper of the global international order and an increasingly important partner of the EU. The European Union and Asia account for 70% of global goods and services flows and 60% of global GDP.
Therefore, the Indo-Pacific region is a region with many sensitivities and different views, interests and aspirations. The rapidly growing regional tensions triggered by competition and fierce geopolitical competition increasingly threaten regional stability and security, and directly affect our strategic interests as the European Union.
The European Union released its first strategy for cooperation with countries in the Indo-Pacific region on September 16. The national strategies adopted by some member states (France, Germany, and the Netherlands) have widely recognized the growing geostrategic importance of the Indo-Pacific region and the need for us to strengthen European participation in the region.
This new EU newsletter demonstrates our intention to strengthen its presence and operations in the region. This new participation is based on inclusiveness and principled long-term engagement with regional partners and reflects the evolution of the way the EU views its interests in the region and the potential role it can play.
The draft EU strategic guidance document submitted on November 15th by Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative, also acknowledges that the EU needs to strengthen the strategic focus of the Indo-Pacific region as a new global competition center.
Regarding the security and defense dimensions of the EU’s strategy in the region, unity among member states will be the key to the EU’s effective maintenance of our presence in the region.
In the absence of an excessive security architecture in the Indo-Pacific region, the EU should concentrate on maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region for everyone, and promote an open and rule-based regional security architecture based on the following principles. Democracy, rule of law, human rights and international law.
Our unified approach to the region must also go hand-in-hand with targeted actions to build strong partnerships. These include security cooperation with Indo-Pacific countries and regional cooperation forums such as the Asia-Europe Meeting and the ASEAN Regional Forum.
To this end, the EU can establish a huge network of trade, partnership and cooperation agreements. These are concluded with several regional partners including Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, New Zealand and Singapore.
As more than 75% of imported goods in Europe arrive by ship, ensuring open access to maritime lines of communication will remain one of the key challenges for our participation in the region. Maritime safety is a priority area that requires deeper cooperation with regional stakeholders.
Based on our experience in the Gulf of Guinea, the EU needs to extend the concept of coordinated maritime presence to the Indo-Pacific region, based on the personal assets of member states, and supplement our maritime presence by strengthening the maritime capacity building plans of partners.
The focus of the Atlanta operation was to prevent piracy, armed robbery, weapons and drug smuggling, and was welcomed by partners in the Indo-Pacific.
Some of them have carried out joint activities and training activities, while others have made contributions to Atlanta under the Framework Participation Agreement.
Further expanding the geographic scope of the Atlanta operation to the Indian Ocean will send a clear message about our commitment to the security of the Indo-Pacific region. This is also a welcome move to deepen the partnership between the EU and our Indo-Pacific partners.
Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are facing increasingly similar challenges in many other security-related fields such as cyber security, terrorism, organized crime, nuclear security, and non-proliferation.
Since all these challenges directly affect our own security and prosperity, we need to work closely with regional partners and coordinate to meet these challenges.
The rapid establishment of the EU Cyber Diplomacy Network and closer cooperation between Europol, ASEAN Interpol and national law enforcement agencies to promote the exchange of expertise and good practices in key areas of interest are what I propose to support the implementation of this strategy Some actions.
Civil and military assistance measures, including non-military donations, represent the obvious added value of our participation in the Indo-Pacific region. The EU should use its network of diplomatic assets, including parliamentary diplomacy, to promote dialogue on expertise in conflict resolution, legal solutions, and confidence-building measures.
