The Indo-Pacific security architecture has seen an emergence of various minilateral cooperative formations over the past decade. This is a result of the growing polarisation of the regional strategic space stemming from the intensifying US–China rivalry on the one hand, and the increasing need of regional countries to address burning functional security issues on the other. Offering a most  welcome “third way” between the exclusive US-led alliance system and the rigid ASEAN-centred multilateralism, minilateralism provides ideal opportunities to channel the EU’s Indo-Pacific agenda based on flexibility, inclusiveness and functional problem-solving. 

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