The Indo-Pacific region has emerged as the new epicentre of geopolitical competition, due to the growth of the Asian economies and particularly of the People’s Republic of China. Sino-American rivalry has intensified over the past decade, as China has increased its assertiveness towards its neighbours in the Western Pacific and is vastly expanding its military capabilities. Meanwhile, the US attempts to maintain its hegemony in the region, for instance by forming new alliances such as AUKUS. The struggle over the future of Asia will define the 21st century for the rest of the world, like the struggle over Europe defined the 20th century.

The openness and security of the maritime routes is essential to European prosperity, because they allow for the movement of goods and resources between European and Asian economies. Europeans have begun their own tilt towards the Indo-Pacific. France, the UK, Germany, and the Netherlands, as well as others, have sent military vessels as part of a naval diplomacy effort. They have published strategies for the region, as has the European Union. Europeans share their preference for a stable, open, and secure multilateral order with partner states across Asia, including Japan, South Korea, Australia, and India.

It remains unclear, however, what specific role Europeans should play in the Indo-Pacific. European government do not entirely agree about the nature and extent of European interests and future contributions to security in the Indo-Pacific. What is needed is more exchanges on the topic and greater cohesiveness.

The HCSS “Europe in the Indo-Pacific Hub (EIPH)” facilitates such exchanges, bringing together scholars, experts, practitioners, business representatives and journalists across Europe, South, East, and Southeast Asia, as well as East-Africa, the Middle East, and the US to discuss the future of the maritime commons in the Indo-Pacific. EIPH has four key activities: it publishes extensive research reports, commissions essays by external experts, (co-)organises closed-door workshops with scholars, experts and practitioners and (co-)organises offline and online public discussions on what role Europe should play in the region. Below, you’ll find the research EIPH and its partners have conducted so far and an overview of past and future events.