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Discourse: EU offering comprehensive, mutual engagement in Indo-Pacific

On Sept. 16, the European Union unveiled its Indo-Pacific strategy, which was overshadowed by the announcement of a security cooperation between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, dubbed AUKUS. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari spoke with EU Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Piket about the strategy and the EU’s approach in responding to the region’s dynamics.

Dian Septiari (The Jakarta Post)
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Fri, October 1, 2021

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Discourse: EU offering comprehensive, mutual engagement in Indo-Pacific EU Ambassador to Indonesia, Vincent Piket (Handout/Delegation of the European Union to Indonesia and Brunei Darussalam)

O

n Sept. 16, the European Union unveiled its Indo-Pacific strategy, which was overshadowed by the announcement of a security cooperation between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, dubbed AUKUS. The Jakarta Post’s Dian Septiari spoke with EU Ambassador to Indonesia Vincent Piket about the strategy and the EU’s approach in responding to the region’s dynamics. The following are excerpts from the interview:

Questions: Many have offered their own take on the Indo-Pacific, from the security aspect to economics. What will be the focus of the EU?

Answer: Our strategy is one of cooperation; it’s not about confrontation, not about dualism or ‘you choose us or somebody else’– we are not asking countries to choose. We are offering mutual engagement, very comprehensively covering all sectors of policy. We want to be a trusted partner, a reliable partner; a partner that doesn’t bring surprises to others and we are pursuing a long-term strategy.

I stressed that this [Indo-Pacific strategy] is inclusive; we want to engage with all countries in the region, from the Maldives and India in South Asia, to Southeast Asia and East Asia, all the way to the Pacific.

This is not a military strategy or a defense strategy, it’s a comprehensive strategy covering all areas of policy. The defense and security dimension is there, but it is not the foremost one.

Some people have said that the EU’s offer lacks clout, because the EU has no military might in the Indo-Pacific. Yes, we are predominantly about soft power, but soft power is real. At the end of the day, it is the soft power that has turned post-World War Two Europe from what it was back then into the union of peace and prosperity.

ASEAN is central to our thinking in the Indo-Pacific; ASEAN centrality is a value of ours as much as it is for the member states of ASEAN.

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