The Indo-Pacific is an area facing profound strategic changes. China's increasing power and territorial claims, as well as the global competition under way with the US, are weakening the balance of power in the region. The context is also marked by transnational threats, proliferation crises and security consequences due to climate change. Oceans are at the heart of tensions, and securing shipping lanes and freedom of navigation remain major issues.

The AUKUS security pact marks a shift toward a logic of blocks. It reflects a vision which prioritizes military confrontation with China engaging a logic of military blocks likely to aggravate tensions in the Indo-Pacific and particularly in Southeast Asia. Some countries in the region have already voiced their concern, such as Malaysia and Indonesia.

The region’s approach based on ASEAN centrality offers an alternative to confrontation that meets the aspirations of Indo-Pacific countries, particularly in Southeast Asia where countries like Indonesia support the development of an inclusive regional architecture where dialogue and cooperation prevail over rivalry.

This is the approach proposed by France, with the adoption in 2018 of its Indo-Pacific strategy, which aims to maintain an open and inclusive space, free of any form of coercion and based on the promotion of multilateralism and the respect of international law. With France's overseas territories and communities, which represent a population of nearly 2 million people, France is a true Indo-Pacific nation where we want to be a stabilizing power.

Security and defense are one of the pillars of France’s Indo-Pacific strategy, in which we will contribute to the security of Southeast Asia by promoting military and security cooperation; and preserve, alongside our partners, access to common areas in a context of strategic competition and increasingly restrictive military environments. In this context we will reaffirm our naval presence in the region, and strengthen our partnerships, especially with Indonesia.

The other pillars of our strategy are clear: sustainable and inclusive prosperity; green transition with a particular focus on clean energy and transportation, protection of biodiversity and sustainable ocean management; improved connectivity including the development of digital partnerships and human security with a priority on health issues.

This is also the priority of the European Union, which has published on Sept. 16 a joint communication on the European strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific. A stronger European presence, particularly in Southeast Asia, will allow us to better address the challenges of this vast region, where the EU has already forged solid partnerships, in particular with ASEAN, whose principle of centrality we strongly support.

AUKUS reinforces our determination to promote European strategic autonomy as the only credible way to promote our values in the world, including in the Indo-Pacific where we are happy to share the objectives outlined in the "ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific" adopted in 2019. The EU has overriding interests of its own in the Indo-Pacific and must therefore develop its own approach, which does not aim at confrontation with China, while remaining firm on the defense of its interests, its values and its principles.

As underlined by France’s Europe and Foreign Affairs Minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian: "our logic, and that of Europe, is to develop an Indo-Pacific strategy (…), certainly based on a strong competition, which offers all the actors of the Indo-Pacific an alternative model (…) which integrates both the environmental dimension, the security dimension, connectivity in transport, the trade dimension, the military one and freedom of movement in this maritime space which gathers 60 percent of the world’s GDP”. In this strategy, all countries wishing to join are welcome, in full respect of their sovereignty.

In its Indo-Pacific strategy, France will coordinate with the United States, another major player in the Indo-Pacific, to defend its own interests. In his discussion with President Emmanuel Macron on Sept. 22, US President Joe Biden reaffirmed that France’s and the European Union’s commitment to the Indo-Pacific region was strategically important.

The publication of the EU strategy is therefore a major step. In this new strategic framework, we find the level of ambition and requirement that we expected, in line with the challenges of the region. A stronger EU presence and actions in the Indo-Pacific, and the deepening of its partnerships with countries in the region, such as Indonesia, will allow for constructive cooperation in the area.

Our ambition is to make the Indo-Pacific one of the two priorities of the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union in the first half of 2022. We will advance the European strategy and implement all Europeans instruments at the service of our common political vision. A ministerial forum, scheduled for February 2022, will be a major event to launch the concrete implementation of the strategy.

In implementing these goals, we will continue, together with our EU partners, to promote an open and rules-based security architecture, including secure maritime lines of communication, capacity building and an increased naval presence in the Indo-Pacific in accordance with international law, including the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

In a nutshell, the region needs cooperation and inclusiveness, not confrontation. Both Indonesia and France are convinced that an answer can only be found through multilateralism, to which they are fully committed and which they tirelessly promote together.

 ***

The writer is French ambassador to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and ASEAN.