EU Strategy in the Indo-Pacific region: Domestic drivers and the Chinese factor

Abstract

Amidst the US-China confrontation the behavior of other key international players is often construed regarding their stance towards Washington or Beijing. For example, when the EU published a Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific in 2021, many saw it as a gesture of solidarity with Washington. The article suggests that the document reflects rather the general evolution of the EU foreign policy under the influence of the Global Strategy of 2016 and aims at proactive strengthening of the EU’s “actormess” in different regions of the world. In practice, it leads to changing methods and instruments of dealing with partners. To verify the hypothesis the article does the following — uses discourse analysis to study all EU strategic documents on Asia in the post-bipolar era and identify typical methods of engaging with the region; specifically analyses the recent document to show similarities and differences with previous ones; visualizes the results of the analysis through the MOST model of organizational behavior. Apart from this, to see if the Chinese factor played its role in adjusting the EU policy in Asia, the article plays particular attention to the evolution of Beijing’s place in the EU strategy. The conclusions confirm the hypothesis.