The Geo-Economics Approach to the European Union Strategic Partnership in the Indo-Pacific Region: Challenges and Opportunities

Introduction

The European Union (EU) is a stronger regional organisation in the world than any other economic alliance. The EU is known as an actor in economic and institutional development in its member states. In recent years, the Asia-Pacific region is under debate among the international communities. The issues of security in Asia are connected to European expectations to expand its economic cooperation with the littoral countries of the region. The EU has been interconnected in various regions of Asia to provide security and economic assistance. Now, the EU seems to be a major actor in the Pacific and wants intercontinental geoeconomics connectivity. The 21st century is the most significant in the area of geopolitical theatre across the world (Iuppa, 2020). There is a growing importance of the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR) for geoeconomics and geopolitics. Many countries have a deep interest in the concept of IPR. The common understanding is that the IPR is gaining importance among various countries, which are asserting in the area of trade and business with a strong economy in the maritime domain.

There is discord between India and China and an emerging confrontation between China-US, inviting the European economic power like Germany, France, and the United Kingdom (UK). The French government shows enormous interest in the IPR and has deep ties with littoral countries. Thus, Australia, India and Japan are major players in the region. China and Russia are jointly working in the region and challenging the US-led initiatives in the IPR. The ex-US President Donald Trump supports the concept of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. During trump's visit to Asia in November 2017 and addressed his vision for the “Indo-Pacific” (Denisov et al., 2021). The IPR is a heartland for European countries’ economies, which have a great dependence on the sea route of the region to accelerate trade and investment. The EU is shaping a great presence in the region and boosting strategic cooperation with various countries. The IPR represents the most important economic zone and is the point of gravity of the world's geoeconomics strategy. This region shares 60 percent of the world's gross domestic product (GDP) and has 60 percent of the world's population. The IPR has contributed two-thirds of the present international growth. Thus, the IPR has enormous importance in world politics for a greater prospect of economic growth and regional security. There are 2.45 billion new members of the middle class who have entered the global economy and will live in this region. By 2030, that would be 90% of the total population from the Indo-Pacific, which is a large majority of the global population (Europa, 2021). The EU policy towards the Indo-Pacific intends to emerge as a model of global and regional good governance and focuses on several key areas around the world, particularly in the Indo-Pacific of strategic autonomy, rules-based order, inclusiveness and common public goods.