As of: March 23, 2024, 8:12 p.m
From: Foreign Policy
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There is war at home, but Europe's strategic and maritime ambitions lie on the other side of the world.
The EU wants to ensure free shipping, especially in Asia.
Europe is placing increasing emphasis on maritime security in Asian waters, such as the Indo-Pacific
In light of the war in Ukraine, there is a new seriousness in Europe about protecting its interests in Asia
Europe wants to signal to the USA that it is able to support the US Navy
This article is available for the first time in German - it was first published by
Foreign Policy
magazine on March 19, 2024 .
Brussels - After years of searching for its own geopolitical identity, Europe is striving to become a larger player in one of the most contentious areas of international relations: maritime security, especially in Asia.
After years of low defense spending and an apparent aversion to military force, Europe as a whole and many key Member States are increasing their focus on maritime security.
Both close to your own country and on the other side of the world.
This is reflected not only in the flood of ambitious strategy papers coming from Brussels, Paris and London, but also in the increasing deployments of the small but capable European naval forces.
Contested waterways should be secured to restore respect for free navigation and global rules.
Houthi rebels are increasingly becoming a problem: more and more deployments, including for the Bundeswehr
European naval forces are already deployed in the Red Sea to repel Houthi missile attacks from Yemen, and an increasing number of European frigates and even aircraft carriers are operating in the Pacific.
This shows that Europe is taking on ever larger and more comprehensive tasks.
The British aircraft carrier “HMS Queen Elizabeth”.
© Terje Pedersen/dpa
What began almost a decade ago with local maritime policing operations in the Mediterranean is now expanding to more ambitious operations further afield, including in the Indian Ocean.
Just last month, the European Union launched a naval operation to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, separate from the more belligerent mission of the United States and Britain in the same waters.
Ukraine war in third year: Europe must play a larger role in maritime security
Even as the major land war in Ukraine enters its third year, Europe is becoming increasingly serious about playing a larger role in security in the Indo-Pacific region.
The European Union has both an Indo-Pacific strategy and a new maritime security strategy that places renewed focus on the region.
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“What is striking about the EU's latest maritime security strategy is that it recognizes the importance of interstate disputes and conflicts at sea, as well as changing political dynamics,” said Timothy Edmunds, a maritime expert at the University of Bristol.
“This is particularly true for the Indo-Pacific region and the EU’s role there.”
Great Britain with more missions in Asia - the EU also wants to strengthen its presence in the Indo-Pacific
Individual countries are also involved in this area.
The UK wants to double down on its own “tilt” towards Asia.
France, the only European Union country with territorial interests in the Indo-Pacific region, wants to increase its maritime and diplomatic presence in the region to offset the rise of China and protect key French and European economic interests.
Even medium-sized geopolitical players such as Germany and the Netherlands are pursuing an Indo-Pacific strategy.
Britain, France and several other European countries have bolstered their efforts with ships in distant Pacific waters.
Security in the Indo-Pacific region is still primarily dependent on the USA
“The deteriorating security environment in the Indo-Pacific region poses a significant threat to French and European interests,” said Jérémy Bachelier, a military scientist at the French Institute for International Relations.
“While deterrence and military response efforts in the Indo-Pacific region depend primarily on the United States, EU Member States must now address the global consequences of crises or conflicts in the region, such as in the Taiwan Strait, North Korea or South China Sea, fully understand.”
The German frigate “Hessen” has sailed for a planned EU military operation in the Red Sea.
© Sina Schuldt/dpa
Ukraine war turns focus on the East: wake-up call for the West
The war in Ukraine has absorbed European attention and European weapons.
Nevertheless, the European shift to the east continues and is even gaining pace.
This is partly because the Ukraine war was a wake-up call for Europe about the real risks of conflict.
Especially in the Indo-Pacific region, the hub of global trade and energy flows on which Europe, like much of the world, depends.
New seriousness due to the Ukraine war: eyes turn to Asia
“The intention to increase the European presence (in the Indo-Pacific region,
editor's note
) continues despite the war in Europe.
Without the war in Ukraine it would be easier to get resources, but on the other hand there is now a new seriousness,” said Paul van Hooft of the Hague Center for Strategic Studies.
The European turn to Asia is so notable because – apart from France and perhaps Britain – no European country is inherently an Indo-Pacific player.
But in addition to the French and British aircraft carriers that are regularly stationed in the region, smaller surface ships from Germany, Italy and the Netherlands also fly the flag.
The rise of China is becoming a geopolitical challenge for Europe
There are several reasons why Europe is increasingly becoming involved in conflicts half a world away, despite numerous challenges on its own doorstep: Firstly, the rise of an aggressive China.
The need to protect free trade and energy flows, on the other.
Added to this is the desire to show the United States that the Old Continent can play an important role in an area that is emerging as the key security policy challenge of the next few decades.
For years, Europe has tried to navigate the balancing act with China by welcoming investment from the country while distancing itself from Washington's increasingly bellicose stance toward Beijing.
But China's combination of predatory trade and economic practices, coercion in the South China Sea, threats to freedom of navigation in the Pacific and blatant plans to annex Taiwan have now led Europe to take a clearer stance.
“The direction China is heading is changing across the EU, and China's disruptive role is increasingly being recognized,” said Edmunds, “whether it is foreign investment, the Belt and Road Initiative or activities in the Pacific .
Foreign Policy Logo © ForeignPolicy.com
Middleweight countries like the Netherlands see their future in the Indo-Pacific region not so much as belligerent fleets but rather as diplomatic powers.
Through investments, capacity building and security assistance, smaller countries could integrate with Asian states into a broader grouping and thus act as a bulwark against China's dominance.
"What we can do is say to our partners: 'We are really interested, but our support needs to come in a different form,'" van Hooft said.
France under Macron is also becoming increasingly involved in US naval exercises
France, which has sought a balancing stance for years under President Emmanuel Macron, is increasingly leaning toward a more pragmatic view of coming developments in the Indo-Pacific region, Bachelier said.
“While Paris has not yet officially joined a group such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad for short), made up of the United States, India, Japan and Australia, it is taking part in more exercises with like-minded countries than before, such as: .
B. in the naval exercise in La Pérouse with India,” he said.
Aside from a possible conflict over Taiwan or the Western Pacific, France and the rest of Europe are particularly concerned about threats to freedom of navigation and the free disposal of vital goods such as energy.
The Houthis' months-long campaign in the Red Sea and Iran's repeated threats to close the Strait of Hormuz have made this clear.
China threatens free shipping – Europe must defend maritime law
Furthermore, China's apparent willingness to turn one of the world's busiest shipping lanes into a private lake is a clear threat to free trade.
This results in a common European desire to uphold maritime law and protect shipping - not just close to home, but wherever Europe is affected.
“It is clear to everyone that waterways are increasingly vulnerable and maritime security is inevitably shifting to the Indo-Pacific region,” said van Hooft.
“Given our dependencies, we cannot ignore the issue of keeping routes open.”
In January, the oil tanker Marlin Luanda was attacked with a rocket by Houthi fighters from Yemen.
(Archive image) © Imago Images
The big European push to do more at sea is a message not only for partners and potential rivals in Asia, but also for the United States.
For years, if not decades, Washington has been lecturing European NATO members about the need to increase defense spending, and some are belatedly starting to do so.
But expanding Europe's maritime security capabilities, particularly in and beyond its immediate backyard, is an area where the continent can offer real support to the United States, experts said.
European missions in the Red Sea against the Houthi rebels are just the beginning
This includes surveillance measures such as the European missions in the Red Sea and the Strait of Hormuz, but also the regular deployment of European surface ships to support US aircraft carrier squadrons on long missions.
“All of these missions are very concrete ways in which even small naval forces can play a role,” said van Hooft.
But what role is that exactly?
The two most powerful naval forces in Europe - Great Britain and France - together have three modest-sized aircraft carriers and about 40 larger surface ships.
The U.S. Navy has more than that at any given time in its Pacific Fleet alone. And the smaller European navies - those of Italy, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands - mostly consist of smaller frigates and a handful of amphibious ships.
French and British aircraft carriers cooperate with USA in training maneuvers
French and British aircraft carriers, escorted by ships from other European nations, plan to deploy to the Indo-Pacific region this year and next and train together to become increasingly interoperable with U.S. forces.
However, that does not mean that European warships would be able to directly support the navies of the United States and its partners if war breaks out in the Pacific, whether over Taiwan or the South China Sea, Bachelier said.
The distance alone - from northwestern Europe to the South China Sea is around two weeks - makes things difficult for the small naval forces.
The lack of logistical support on the ground would make it difficult for European naval forces to do much in the event of a conflict, even if they were prepared to do so.
Europe could protect the sea routes in the Red Sea and relieve the burden on the USA
A more indirect but ultimately more helpful role in shaping Asia's maritime environment could be played a little closer to home.
The European naval forces, which are already fighting pirates and terrorists in the Red Sea and the western Indian Ocean, could fully take over this task of protecting sea routes, allowing the US and its partner navies to concentrate on the Pacific.
"Should a conflict arise in Asia, Europe will likely have to ensure security and control of maritime flows and monitor the 'rear bases' between the Suez Canal and the Strait of Malacca," Bachelier said.
“European navies operating in the zone from the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait to the opening of the Strait of Malacca in the Bay of Bengal could limit Beijing's strategic supplies while protecting European energy interests without becoming too involved to the east .”
To the author
Keith Johnson
is a reporter at Foreign Policy covering geoeconomics and energy.
Twitter (X): @KFJ_FP
We are currently testing machine translations. This article was automatically translated from English into German.
This article was first published in English in the magazine “ForeignPolicy.com” on March 19, 2024 - as part of a cooperation, it is now also available in translation to readers of the IPPEN.MEDIA portals.