What the EU Can Learn From and Do With Australia, India, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam
Institute for Security & Development Policy
“The five powers’ views on the EU’s engagement in the Indo-Pacific thus far and how the EU could help foster regional order also vary. These hover over an amalgam of realism, disillusion, and optimism. The Australian, Japanese, and South Korean aspirations for greater coordination with the EU lie in the hope that it can move closer to the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific military alliances, informally or formally, directly or indirectly. India and Vietnam place a much stronger emphasis on diversifying external relations and on a more plural or multipolar Indo-Pacific where firm security reliance through collective security on the U.S., or anybody for that matter, is largely discouraged. This represents the overall Indo-Pacific barometer for order, stability, and cooperation more than the Australian, Japanese, and South Korean approaches.”