The EU in the Indo-Pacific: The Potential and Limits of Bilateral Partnerships

The EU in the Indo-Pacific: The Potential and Limits of Bilateral Partnerships

The EU in the Indo-Pacific: The Potential and Limits of Bilateral Partnerships

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On 30 May 2024 the Brussels Office of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs – Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP) and the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS) had the pleasure of organising an expert exchange on the potentials and limits of European bilateral partnerships in the Indopacific. The event took place under the Chatham House Rule.

Date: Thursday, 30 May 2024
Time: 12h30-14h00 (CET)
Venue: EIAS Brussels

The EU and its members states are for some time already trying to forge closer bilateral partnerships in the Indopacific region, preferably with so called “like-minded” states. This is done in order to reduce the dependence on a geopolitically ever more assertive China, but also because of a perceived global systemic competition between democratic and authoritarian states. In practice, however, the emphasis on like-mindedness, which itself is often laden with assumptions regarding shared norms and values, often seems to clash with realities on the ground. In practice even many close partners do not align with the EU and most of its member states on numerous core issues ranging from Ukraine to free trade to the protection of international human rights norms.

The following central questions were discussed at the event: What do European decision-makers mean in concrete terms if they talk about “like-mindedness” as well as “values-based partnerships” in the Indopacific? How does these and similar ideas correspond to the reality of existing or developing relationships with partners in the region? Therefore, does it make sense at all to put normative concepts too much in the centre of the EU’s and member state’s foreign policy approaches in this region? How could alternative concepts and policies look like?

The SWP Publication Germany’s Value-based Partnerships in the Indo-Pacific by Felix Heiduk can serve as further reading on the topic.

»The EU in the Indopacific: The Potential and Limits of bilateral partnerships«

Expert Exchange

Welcome:
Lin Goethals, Director, European Institute for Asian Studies
André Härtel, Head of Office, SWP, Brussels
Speakers:
Felix Heiduk, Head of Research Division, Asia, SWP, Berlin
Eva Pejsova, Japan Chair, Centre for Security, Diplomacy and Strategy, Brussels School of Governance, Brussels
Lim Hong Huai, Ambassador of the Republic of Singapore to Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxembourg
Mark Gallagher, Deputy Head of Division, South-east Asia, European External Service, Brussels
Chair:
Lin Goethals, Director, European Institute for Asian Studies

Photo Credits: Unsplash

Event registration closed.
 

Date And Time

30-05-2024 - 12:30 (CET) to
30-05-2024 - 14:00 (CET)
 

Registration End Date

30-05-2024
 

Location

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