The European Union’s Strategy Toward the Indo-Pacific

The European Union (EU) has a long-standing and proactive engagement with Asia. Growing attention to the risks and challenges stemming from China’s rise has shifted discourse away from a traditional focus on the “Asia-Pacific” toward the novel concept of the “Indo-Pacific”. The latter has been coined in response to a number of powers in and outside the region to demarcate a wider area, stretching from the East coast of Africa to the Western Pacific, that is a zone of immense geopolitical relevance and economic potential. This chapter unpacks the geopolitical and geo-economic factors driving the EU’s regional engagement, before concluding with a summary of the main achievements, limitations, and future outlook.