Asia, European Union, connectivity, Global Gateway, Indo-Pacific

Recent geopolitical changes as well as post-pandemic recovery have led the EU to call for a more engaged role in the world. Increasing Chinese global influence, combined with Beijing's tense relations with Washington, led some democratic countries to call for the creation of an Indo-Pacific concept that constructs a megaregion based on rules. In order to safeguard future objectives in Indo-Pacific, European nations such as France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom called for national Indo-Pacific approaches. At the EU’s level, the ambitious Indo-Pacific strategy is being complemented by the Global Gateway based on Asia- Europe connectivity strategy. In this paper, the EU-Asia Connectivity, Indo-Pacific and the Global Gateway strategies are examined in light of an EU’s new engagement with Asia. Paper’s qualitative approach builds on the content analysis of EU’s national and external policies. The strategies address niches in infrastructure projects and seek for strong EU’s Indo-Pacific partnership roles in order to secure future European interests in Asia.