US-China Strategic Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific Region: The Security Dimension and the EU’s Role

Europe’s growing engagement in the Indo-Pacific represents its response to the region’s growing geostrategic tensions by exercising its normative power to mitigate conflicts and shape the security environment. At the same time, with greater military presence, partnerships and participation in regional diplomacy, Europe seeks both to work closely with the USA on issues where they share common interests and to strengthen its strategic autonomy. Beijing watches European involvement in Indo-Pacific affairs as some of its actions, from exercising freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea, forming or reinforcing security partnerships with like-minded powers in the region and participating in joint military exercises, either encouraged by or in alignment with Washington, raise serious concerns for China and could affect long-term Europe-China relations. At the same time, Chinese analysts also point to divergences in transatlantic approaches to the Indo-Pacific and Europe’s inherent limitation in projecting and sustaining hard power at a time when its security is under serious threat as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.