Europe Rediscovers the Indo-Pacific… Xi Jinping and Joe Biden / David CAMROUX
Channel: IRASEC
Date: 05/10/2021

Europe Rediscovers the Indo-Pacific… Xi Jinping and Joe Biden
David CAMROUX, SciencesPo, Honorary Research Fellow, Center for International Studies (CERI), Paris

It was the German General K Haushofer, in his Geopolitik des Pazifischen Ozeans (1924) who created the denomination ‘Indo-Pacific’. A century later, in October 2020, the German Foreign Ministry framed its Asia policy guidelines as directed towards an Indo-Pacific region. As is often the case, it was its French counterpart which had paved the way publishing in mid 2018 a policy paper on an inclusive Indo-Pacific region. On November 2020, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs joined the chorus with its own Indo-Pacific policy paper. Finally, on 19th April 2021 the European Union published its “EU Strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific”. A definitive version should be adopted by the European Commission and the Parliament in Fall. As for the UK, since Brexit, promoting a Global Britain involves a “very British tilt towards the Indo-Pacific”. Referring to these various policy documents and present European foreign relations practice, my paper has two purposes. Firstly, to contextualize diverse European views of the Indo-Pacific in relation to domestic considerations. Secondly, to situate strategies within a larger multilateral and geopolitical environment, in particular, Sino-American rivalry. I raise the issue as to whether EU-ASEAN relations will become a casualty in the new European pan-regional orientation.
--
Session 4 / Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific: The Intersecting Interests of Other Major Powers
Chair: Dr. Claire, Thị Liên TRẦN, Irasec/Univ de Paris

These last 15 years, other great powers have redefined their strategy in the region, replacing the concept of Asia-Pacific to the one of Indo-Pacific. Indeed, the region involves the intersecting interests of two other major powers - Japan and the United States - and significant middle players – Australia and South Korea as well as Western players – the European Union and Russia. The session intends to highlight their perspectives on the Indo-Pacific definition, with the aim to manage the China’s rise in the regional order. How did these great powers, which have dominated the Asia-Pacific era, reposition themselves in this new Indo-Pacific architecture. How do they manage their influencing diplomacy and partnership building, as well as their strategical and security priorities? Will the region’s future be dominated by competition or develop in a more cooperative way in this growing economic and strategic super-region connecting two oceans?
--
“Asia’s Post-Pandemic Order and Integration: Outlook of ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific at Crossroads” is an international conference organized by The Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC-CNRS) with the ASEAN Studies Center (Chulalongkorn University) in Bangkok, and the ASEAN-India Centre (AIC), RIS in New Delhi.
8-9 July 2021 - Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok
https://www.irasec.com/page569