Europäische Verteidigungs- und Sicherheitspolitik

[Schneemann]

European Union Maintaining Uneasy Maritime Relationship with China, Admiral Says

When the European Union assesses China’s behavior in the South China Sea, the 27 nations see a threat to their security, but they also view Beijing as a partner to combat Indian Ocean pirates, the director general of its military staff said Thursday.

Vice Adm. Hervé Bléjean said the EU realizes it has “to connect with like-minded nations … to counter some activities from the South China Sea to the Black Sea” where China bullies smaller nations and Russia has massed more than 90,000 troops along the Ukrainian border. Using China’s build-up of the People’s Liberation Army Navy as an example of Beijing as an immediate threat, he added, “every two years the Chinese are producing the tonnage of the French navy” to expand their maritime presence. [...]

Bléjean said that the EU’s new Strategic Compass document, due to be released in March, looks at an expanded maritime role for the union in the Pacific itself. The document recognizes “the need for a more top-down vision” of security and the analysis takes into account “new threats we will have to face in the next five to 10 years,” he said. [...] “We see very much the leadership of the United States there” in upholding the international rule of law in the South China Sea. One reason the EU is looking more strategically at Pacific Ocean security is that France views itself as “a Pacific Ocean nation,” due to its territorial holdings in the region with more than 1.8 million citizens, Bléjean said. [...]

Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Bléjean said cooperation among EU nations in policing for piracy in the Indian Ocean is “working pretty well” as member nations have stepped up their naval presence in the Gulf of Guinea. He said in both the Indian Ocean’s anti-piracy patrols and expanded operations in the Pacific there needed to be more cooperation on missions and aims. Intelligence sharing “would be very powerful” in meeting those goals and would remove “inconsistencies” in approaches by different EU nations and others like the United States, United Kingdom and Japan. [...]

Blejean said the reasons for assembling the Strategic Compass document comes down to the capability of the EU to act in meeting new challenges. It also provides a security framework for citizens “in a hybrid landscape.” The document spells out ways to work in partnerships with NATO, Washington, London, the UN and African Union in the future.

https://news.usni.org/2021/12/03/europea...miral-says

Schneemann