Introduction

The rise of China and India has shifted the geoeconomics and geopolitical centre of gravity from the Atlantic Ocean to the Indo-Pacific. The intensification of geopolitical rivalries and contestation over values has exacerbated regional powers’ anxieties while also attracting the gaze of extra-regional powers. In April 2021, the European Union unveiled its Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, institutionalising several European countries’ increasing interest in concrete policy objectives. Its agenda emphasized cooperation in maritime security, cyber security, the fight against global terrorism and political violence, and the support of multilateral approaches toward crisis management, especially international peacekeeping and collective security. Notwithstanding the EU’s vision for its role as a stabilising agent in the region, it is not yet clear how regional players view the EU as a stakeholder in the Indo-Pacific’s regional security. There is a significant variation in regional perceptions: some have embraced the EU’s role, but many remain sceptical of its eventual contributions. The book attempts to bring to the centre stage the EU’s emerging role as a security actor in the Indo-Pacific and how Indo-Pacific states respond to the EU’s participation in the region’s security dynamics. The volume, as it is structured, takes into account the opportunities, problems, and complexity of security engagement of extra-regional powers such as the EU in the Indo-Pacific. The book provides country perspectives from four different subregions and 12 different states in the Indo-Pacific—East Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania, and South Asia - to debate and discuss regional perceptions of the EU as a security actor in the region.