KUALA LUMPUR: The European Union (EU) is looking to Malaysia to play a bigger role in strengthening Asean-EU relations while urging for a wider scope of cooperation among members of the regional organisation with other partners in order to preempt future geopolitical and socio-economic problems.
Explaining the EU long term plans, its Ambassador to Malaysia, Michalis Rokas, feels now is the time for EU to stay the course in striving for a closer Asean-EU collaboration in many other sectors of interest to both sides.
"In 2025, Malaysia will take over as Asean chair. Together with the Ambassadors' of the EU Member States in Malaysia, we will engage at early stage with Wisma Putra to discuss what we can do together to address critical challenges and rising tensions," he said.
In addition, Malaysia has recently become a partner country in a regional project called ESIWA – Enhancing Security in and with Asia.
"I am happy to share that the initial reception has been very positive – first joint
activities in areas such as cybersecurity or preventing violent extremism have been highly successful."
This has to do with the EU strategy in the Indo-Pacific region and in line with the 2022 EU Strategic Compass, which guides EU security and defence policy, said Rokas to the delegates of the 36th Asia Pacific Roundtable hosted by the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia.
Pointing to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he further stressed, "how EU today are doing things in security and defence that I would have considered impossible only two years ago. We have had to learn the hard way, but the EU is moving and adapting very fast."
Evidence of a continuing and healthy EU relations with Asean and other partners have been increasing, pointing to the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreements with Malaysia and Thailand, last December.
Not only that, EU has concluded negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with New Zealand; still negotiating with Australia and India about FTA while FTA negotiations have been relaunched with Thailand, and intensified with other Indo-Pacific partners, including Indonesia and Kenya.
"Philippines will be next, and I hope that Malaysia will also follow soon," said Rokas who then highlighted digital partnerships with Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Singapore established last year.
Piling on the feel good factor, he revealed that the EU aims to have important announcements at the Global Gateway Forum in Brussels in October this year, with regard to the €10 billion pledged for Asean at the EU-Asean Commemorative Summit, last December.
At the same time, he reminded EU allies to watch out over the security situation that's becoming more dangerous that could derail economic progress and one example is the fact that 200 ships have been transporting goods across the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea to Europe and back.
"We are living in times in which anything can be weaponised. It is not law, but force, which is increasingly shaping our world," he said, obviously referring to the Ukraine war and other conflicts the world over.
Against such backdrop, unsurprisingly, all major players expand their military spending because Nations and people are insecure which leads them to buy arms.
World military spending last year grew to an all-time high, reaching US$2.2 trillion because of Russia's war in Ukraine.
For Europe, its military expenditure is today 30 per cent higher than in 2013, before the Russian illegal annexation of Crimea.
"Nonetheless, here, in Asia, the trend of your military expenditure is even greater. Last year, the military expenditure in Asia and Oceania was 45 percent higher than in 2013.
"Therefore, in the last 10 years, our regions have increased our military expenditure by 30 per cent and by 45 per cent, which shows clearly that we live in a dangerous and uncertain world," he said, echoing this years' APR's theme, "An Age of Strategic Uncertainty".