US PRESIDENT Barack Obama’s 10-day sweep through Asia, coming on the heels of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s attendance in the East Asia Summit in Hanoi should prompt some much-needed European Union soul-searching on how best to correct Europe’s weak political imprint in Asia.

EU policymakers are right to be worried. Being absent from Hanoi was bad enough but it will probably get worse: the US and Russia have been formally invited as members of the East Asia Summit, further expanding the body’s influence as a key multilateral and global governance forum. The EU, with its commitment to international cooperation and regional fora, is hankering for a similar invitation. But Asian officials, including Asean Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan, have made clear that this could be a long time coming. The increasingly influential East Asian body intends to move forward ‘step by step’. Europeans are understandably disappointed but they should not be surprised. This is not the first time the EU has been sidelined by East Asian movers and shakers and it certainly will not be the last.

The EU was also notably absent from a meeting of East Asian defence ministers this summer when they met their American and Russian counterparts. Although an EU representative did take part in the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) earlier this year, EU officials were not invited to the Shangri-La informal defence talks among senior security officials held in Singapore this summer.

Instead of complaining about being sidelined by rising East Asia, Europe’s top officials need to think seriously about just why this is happening. And once such reflection is complete, they should take quick remedial action, including efforts to reinforce political contacts with East Asia. Europe’s recent preoccupation with its internal restructuring, institutional problems and acrimonious turf battles between senior politicians, has prompted many in Asia to warn the EU is becoming unimportant in the region. However, Europeans are wrong when they claim they are being deliberately cold-shouldered by cocky and too-assertive Asians. The recent Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) — attended by most Asian leaders —in Brussels is proof that most Asian countries want close relations with Europe and see EU markets as vital for their domestic growth.

Trade between the two regions is booming. Asian countries are lining up to negotiate free trade agreements with Brussels, hoping to follow quickly in the footsteps of South Korea. Investment and technology transfers between the two regions are buoyant and likely to remain so. The EU’s problem is simple: for all their talk of becoming a global actor, the bloc has been unable to leverage its economic power into real, sustained political clout. The problem lies at the top. For too many years, EU commissioners and ministers either stayed away from meetings with their Asian counterparts or put in a brief, formal appearance. Opportunities for dialogue and networking were missed. Personal relationships were never really nurtured.

The EU’s former foreign policy chief Javier Solana compensated to some extent by attending ARF meetings and through his frequent personal contacts with Asian governments. However, his successor Catherine Ashton did not go to this year’s ARF and showed up only briefly for dinner at this summer’s meeting of Asean-EU foreign ministers in Madrid. She did not attend the Asem summit. No high-level EU official has as yet visited the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta.

Missing meetings may appear trivial to a harried and rushed EU foreign policy chief who has to deal with myriad pressing issues, including some in Europe’s immediate neighbourhood. Ms Ashton has of course also had her hands tied with setting up the ‘External Action Service’ or EU foreign ministry expected to become operational in a few weeks.

But time does not stand still. Diplomacy is about travel, networking and trying to influence and shape policies and perceptions. The EU’s Asian policy needs to move from process and ritual to substance and strategy. EU commissioners and politicians have to recognise that dealing with a changing and rising Asia will require a change in mindsets, new courtships and new alliances. The launch of free trade talks with many Asian countries is a good step forward and should be encouraged as should more technology transfer and European investments in Asia. The EU’s high consumer standards and quality control norms are also expanding its economic outreach to Asia. However, the focus on economics alone confirms the long-standing image of Europe as an economic giant but a political dwarf.

If the EU is serious about securing a place at East Asia’s top strategy table, it will have to work harder at becoming a real security actor in the region. EU officials need to engage Asians more actively on North Korea, Burma and recent tensions in the South and East China Seas. Lectures on human rights need to be replaced by constructive cooperation on issues like good governance, rule of law, training for judges and prison reform.

Finally, even as they seek stronger ties with China and India, Europeans should forge deeper ties with Asean. After all, since 2008, Asean has a charter to turn the region of 580 million people, with a combined GDP of about $1.5tr, into a political, economic and security community by 2015. Asean is also at the centre of most of the regional integration initiatives making headlines in the region. Clinton has visited the Asean Secretariat in Jakarta and President Obama hosted a summit with Asean leaders in September in New York. So, what’s keeping Messrs Herman Von Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso from putting some pizzazz into EU-Asia ties by inviting their Asean counterparts to a high-profile joint summit?

The writer is Dawn’s correspondent in Delhi.