For a brief ”unipolar moment”, the idea of great powers competing waned from the Western public consciousness. Wars of choice distracted both the population and politicians of the lone global super power. Yet, the expansion of China’s economic, political, and military clout did not go unnoticed in Washington, and a consensus emerged that the world has crossed the threshold into a new age of great-power competition. President Trump’s approach to addressing China has differed markedly from his predecessors, but there is continuity in the aim to ensure that the United States remains the leading power in the international system. How will this great-power competition unfold? How does the US aim to check China’s rise and achieve America’s stated ambition of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP)? How will economic and trade relations evolve, and is there space for engagement? Could Europe play a potentially meaningful role in the Indo-Pacific?
The recording of the webinar is available at FIIA’s YouTube channel:
Speakers
Fellow, Harvard University
Senior Research Fellow, Institute for National Strategic Studies
Visiting Senior Fellow, Hudson Institute
Puheenjohtaja
Senior Research Fellow
Bart Gaens is Senior Research Fellow in the Global Security and Governance research programme at the Finnish Institute of International Affairs. From May 2021 to April 2023, he led a project on connectivity in the Indo-Pacific region. He also holds the title of Docent at the Faculty of Arts at the University of Helsinki.
In the past Gaens has worked as Project Director for FIIA’s Center on US Politics and Power (CUSPP), Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Helsinki, and Specially-Appointed Associate Professor at Osaka University in Japan.
He has published widely on Europe-Asia inter-regionalism and the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) process, Japan’s foreign policy and regional role, India’s foreign policy and relations with the EU, domestic politics in Myanmar, and security-related issues in the Indo-Pacific region. He has also (co)edited volumes and reports on connectivity, EU-Asia relations, the US-China rivalry, transatlantic relations, and Japan’s search for strategic partnerships.