Addressing Hybrid Threats in the Indo-Pacific – Pilot Action (HIPPA) 

HIPPA is an Action funded by the European Union. 

The EU has a vital interest in the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, a region that is simultaneously of an increasing strategic importance and at the same time at risk of hybrid threats. In line with the objectives set out in the EU Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and the EU Strategic Compass, this action proposes to develop a platform for a two-year pilot engagement.

The platform will identify and address hybrid threats in and with the Indo-Pacific region, capitalising on existing EU relations with like-minded partners in the region and on existing subject-matter expertise, whilst affirming the EU reputation as an honest broker. This would lay the foundations and provide recommendations for structured, long-term multilateral engagement modelled after the Helsinki-based European Centre of Excellence for Countering Hybrid Threats (Hybrid CoE).

Therefore, the overall objective of this action is to strengthen understanding, awareness of, and inter-regional cooperation on addressing hybrid threats between the EU and key Indo-Pacific partners (government, nongovernment, and industry), and promote relevant EU policies and approaches to this topic.

The EU has a vital interest in the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific, as the two regions are highly interconnected. At the same time, the Indo-Pacific has emerged as a new centre of intense geopolitical competition. However, despite a heightened level of risks and threat, the Indo-Pacific still lacks regional structures to better understand and address these threats – and their potentially global ramifications. This presents an opportunity and a need for stronger EU engagement with the region, including in the area of the fight against foreign information manipulation and interference (FIMI), hybrid and cyber threats, and by sharing the knowledge and capabilities developed by the EU and its Member States in cooperation with NATO and using the platform of the European Hybrid Centre of Excellence (CoE) for Countering Hybrid Threats in Helsinki.

The full project document can be retrieved here.