As spacious as it is, the Indo-Pacific macro-area is crowded with geo-political and geo-economic presence from every major power, as well as sustained engagement from the world’s largest militaries.
How can Europe’s changing trade and security ambitions find their rightful place in the Indo-Pacific, the gravity centre of China/U.S. rivalry?
Whether on land or sea, tensions are rising in every area of international connectivity in Europe and Asia: from fragmented supply chains and trade networks to challenges in technological, political and security governance; not to mention climate disasters, relativist definitions of human rights, and the first international war on European soil since World War II.
The recent geo-political events and macroeconomic earthquakes in Europe, from the energy and food crises to the spectre of stagflation, have further underlined the urgency of reinforcing resilient connectivity links for the EU on friendly shores in the Indo-Pacific. The region hosts no less than two-thirds of global economic growth and nearly half the world’s population.
Can we speak of a geo-economic turn to EU-Asia trade policy? And can EU-Asia relations truly be renewed at the intersection of trade and security, in a region where the EU is traditionally expected as a trade partner and a relatively neutral broker of development finance? Is the EU capable of picking up both its pace and its image in the region to safeguard both values and interests?
This public workshop takes stock of recent trends in EU-Asia relations and showcases recent publications stemming from the EU-Asia Security and Trade (EAST) Jean Monnet-funded project as well as EUI’s own EU-Asia Project.