Europecraft in the Indo-Pacific Region: Towards Pragmatic or Principled Partnership (original) (raw)

This article argues that European statecraft, or Europecraft, in the Indo-Pacific is fundamentally shaped by, and thereby juggling between, the bifurcation of contending positionalities, namely its economic partner (pragmatic power) and principled player (normative power). This article first addresses and analyses the EU’s Indo-Pacific Strategy through key concepts, namely Preferences, Priorities, Policies, and Principles. Overall, the ultimate aims of Brussels are to strengthen comprehensive partnership with like-minded regional players particularly ASEAN and to build its resilience, robustness and relevance in the Indo-Pacific region. The article concludes with the challenges and ways forward for the EU, especially under Spain’s presidency of the Council of the EU during the second half of 2023, starting in July.