After years in search of a geopolitical identity, Europe is aiming to become a much bigger player in one of the most contentious spaces in international relations: maritime security, including in Asia.

After years in search of a geopolitical identity, Europe is aiming to become a much bigger player in one of the most contentious spaces in international relations: maritime security, including in Asia.

Rebounding from years of anemic defense spending and a seeming aversion to hard power, Europe as a whole and many key member states are quickly boosting their attention to maritime security, both close to home and half a world away. That’s evident not just in the flurry of ambitious strategy papers raining out of Brussels, Paris, and London, but also in the increasing deployments of Europe’s small but capable navies to do more and in more places, securing contested waterways and clawing back respect for free navigation and global rules.

European naval missions are already operating in the Red Sea against Houthi missile attacks from Yemen, and more and more European frigates and even aircraft carriers are making tours of the Pacific as part of a continentwide shift to bigger and more sprawling responsibilities.

What began almost a decade ago with local maritime policing operations in the Mediterranean is now spreading to more ambitious deployments farther afield, including the Indian Ocean. Just last month, the European Union launched a naval operation to secure shipping lanes in the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf, and the Arabian Sea, separate from the more belligerent U.S. and U.K. mission in those same waters.

Even with a major land war in Ukraine entering its third year, Europe is getting increasingly serious about playing a bigger role in Indo-Pacific security. The European Union has both an Indo-Pacific strategy and a new maritime security strategy that puts renewed emphasis on the region.

“What is striking about the latest maritime security strategy from the EU is a real shift in gear, to recognize the importance of interstate disputes and conflicts at sea and the changing political dynamics,” said Timothy Edmunds, a naval expert at the University of Bristol. “That’s particularly the case for the Indo-Pacific region and the role for the EU within that.”

Individual countries are getting in on the act, too. The United Kingdom is aiming to double down on its own “tilt” to Asia. France, the only European Union country with territorial interests in the........

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