The European Union as a Security Actor in the Indo-Pacific: Perception and Responses from Singapore

The European Union’s Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific (SCIP), which institutionalises the growing interests of several European Union (EU) members, is potentially significant for a number of reasons. First, the EU finally accepted the reality of the Indo-Pacific as a unique but interconnected region with the potential to wield significant geopolitical influence on the future of international relations. Second, it also marked a turn in Europe’s self-restrained plan for cooperation with regional actors, which often put the heaviest emphasis on economics and trade, as well as on human rights, instead of cooperation in defence and security. The EU’s strategy for the Indo-Pacific corrected this bias in Europe’s vision of its role in the region. The EU’s Indo-Pacific agenda emphasises cooperation in maritime security, cyber security, the fight against global terrorism and political violence and, finally, in supporting multilateral approaches towards crisis management, especially international peacekeeping and collective security. SCIP identifies four factors as the drivers of the EU’s growing desire to cooperate with like-minded Indo-Pacific partners: China’s rise and potential ability to reshape the existing global order; the US, as the principal security partner with the EU, shifting its focus back to the Indo-Pacific; the growing realisation of interconnectedness between European and Indo-Pacific security developments; and the growing occurrence and strategic salience of non-kinetic forms of competition. But do these European concerns mirror those of Indo-Pacific states? To what extent that the specific concerns enunciated in the SCIP—maritime issues, cyber security, counterterrorism and counter-extremism, and crisis management—mirror the concerns of Indo-Pacific states? What role can the EU play as a security actor in the Indo-Pacific? Are there existing domains for such security cooperation between the EU and Singapore? What capabilities and resources does the EU have that make the organisation a potentially relevant security actor for the region and Singapore?