Dozens of senior officials and diplomats from across Asia, Africa and the Pacific will touch down in Brussels on Thursday, as the European Union tries to convince them it is a more reliable partner than the United States and China.
More than 70 delegations will attend the bloc’s fourth Indo-Pacific forum, with more than 50 ministers or vice-ministers expected at talks on Friday, EU officials said. Crucially, neither Beijing or Washington are invited.
“There was no invitation to special guests – this is only for our Indo-Pacific partners. It is an occasion to discuss with them in an open and frank way. With the US, Canada, Norway and others, we already discuss with them the Indo-Pacific,” said one official involved in the planning, referring to countries previously invited to the forum.
A second said that “China has never been invited – it’s not about China”, even if the discussion was likely to turn to Beijing’s stronghold on critical minerals.
“China has not attended in the past but this doesn’t mean the principle of the forum is against anyone. We have a lot of dedicated and high-level channels with China … dialogue with China has its own momentum,” they added.
With many countries involved battered by US President Donald Trump’s trade tariffs and bruised from being caught in the crosshairs of the superpower rivalry, organisers are hopeful that this forum might be more fruitful than previous editions.
