Event Report

The 2nd Tokyo Global Dialogue

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February 26

Part II Session 3: Europe’s View of the Strategic Transformation

In Breakout Session 3, ‘Europe’s View of the Strategic Transformation,’ the discussion centered on Europe's strategic transformation towards the Indo-Pacific region and the possibilities and limitations of EU-Japan cooperation against the backdrop of US-China rivalry. While all panelists pointed out the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific region for European countries and the EU, some also expressed skepticism about Europe's position as a security actor in the region, given the differences in Japan’s and Europe's perceptions of China as a threat and in their strategic environments as well as the lack of a regional security architecture.

In response to the question of how Europe and Japan could strike a balance between normative values such as human rights and economic interests in confronting China, the panelists stressed the possibility of utilizing multilateral frameworks such as the G7 and the need to jointly create a regulatory space for advanced technologies such as 5G. Panelists also pointed out the inextricable interaction between economic interests and normative values and sounded an alarm over the lack of a coordinated strategy on values and norms in dealing with China's expanding influence over culture and universities.

The discussion then touched upon the symbolic significance and substantial limitations of the Indo-Pacific concept in the context of EU-Japan cooperation. A panelist pointed out the urgent need for concrete actions, rather than ambiguous notional cooperation like the FOIP, through expansion of the G7 and the G20 or cross-regional cooperation between the QUAD and the E3, while the other panelists emphasized the ongoing strategic transformation in Europe around the Indo-Pacific concept. In this context, the importance of going beyond a vision and promoting a positive agenda through cooperative actions was confirmed.

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