European Union forum on Indo-Pacific will lack US and China, which were not invited
- Unclear why Brussels did not involve Washington, which attended last year; Beijing will be missing too, but has never been included
- The gathering is expected to draw more than 70 foreign ministers, as EU looks to build bridges with nations spanning the Pacific Islands, East Africa and Asia
The European Union will host its third Indo-Pacific forum in Brussels this week, but the world’s top superpowers are not invited.
Neither China nor the United States have been asked to a gathering of what is expected to be more than 70 foreign ministers on Friday, despite their outsize role in the region’s economic and security landscape, according to several sources familiar with the event.
Beijing’s absence is no surprise, but the omission of the US has raised some eyebrows.
Although it was not represented at the inaugural summit in Paris in 2022, Washington sent a high-level delegation to the second edition of the forum in Stockholm last year, led by Derek Chollet, counsellor of the US Department of State.
The EU did not immediately respond to a request seeking an explanation for the snub.
