Indo Pacific Region

This book explains why the idea of the Indo-Pacific is so strategically important and concludes with a strategy designed to help the West engage with Chinese power in the region in such a way as to avoid conflict.

Exploring the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region, a major hub of global economic/commercial, military, diplomatic and cultural activities in the 21st century, this textbook provides students with an introduction to the existing debates, frameworks and issues surrounding the Indo-Pacific. The book explains the historical background to highlight the significance of the region, the shift of power from West to East and the importance of the growing connectivity between Asia-Pacific and the Indo-Pacific areas. Covering relations between China and the USA, India, Vietnam and China’s southern neighbours in Southeast Asia, along with Japan, Taiwan, Australia, Sri Lanka and Myanmar, it presents the different arguments regarding the caveats and meaning of ‘Indo-Pacific’. In so doing, it shows that the region is the 'theatre' of great power and middle power competition and suggests that third parties have an area of autonomy in their dealing with American and Chinese leaders. Complete with a list of further readings, Geopolitics and the Indo-Pacific Region fills a gap in the market and will be of great interest to upper-level undergraduates, postgraduate students and researchers studying international relations, ipe, geopolitics, Asian politics and Asian security studies.

This book explores the most important strategic questions about the emerging Indo-Pacific region by offering an incisive analysis on the current and future patterns of competition and cooperation of key nations in the region. Examining emerging policies of cooperation and conflict adopted by Indo-Pacific states in response to a rising China, the book offers insights into the evolving Indo-Pacific visions and strategies being developed in Japan, India, Australia and the US in reaction to shifting geopolitical realities. The book provides evidence of geopolitical advances in what some see as a spatially coherent maritime zone stretching from the eastern Pacific to the western Indian Ocean, including small island states and countries that line its littoral. It also analyzes the development and operationalization of Indo-Pacific policies and strategies of various key nations. Contributors provide both macro and micro perspectives to this critically significant topic, offering insights into the grand strategies of great powers as well as case studies ranging from the Philippines to the Maldives to Kenya. The book suggests that new rivalries, shifting alliances and economic ebbs and flows in the Indo-Pacific will generate new geopolitical realities and shape much else beyond in the twenty-first century. A timely contribution to the rapidly expanding policy and scholarly discussions about what is likely to be the defining region for international politics for coming generations, the book will be of interest to policymakers as well as students and academics in the fields of International Relations, Foreign Policy, Security Studies, Diplomacy and International Law, East and South Asian Studies, East African Studies, Middle East Studies, and Australian Studies.

This book places the presidency of Donald Trump as well as the brewing Sino-American Cold War within the broader historical context of American hegemony in Asia, which traces its roots to Alfred Thayer Mahan’s call for a naval build up in the Pacific, the subsequent colonization of the Philippines and, ultimately, reaching its apotheosis after the defeat of Imperial Japan in the Second World War. The book, drawing on visits from Cairo to California and Perth to Pyongyang as well as interviews and exchanges with heads of state and senior officials from across the Indo-Pacific, provides an overview of the arc of American primacy in the region for scholars, journalists, and concerned citizens.

A new concept of `Indo-Pacific` has entered into the geopolitical discourse and the lexicon of International Relations. There is no unanimity of views on the definition of the emerging concept of Indo-Pacific. Yet, Indo-Pacific region as a new geopolitical concept appears to have come to stay. Three major developments have taken place in recent years leading to emergence of the concept of `Indo-Pacific` that does not replace but subsumes the geopolitical construct, hitherto known as the `Asia-Pacific`. The newest development, of course, is the rise of India as an economic powerhouse and influential political actor in world affairs, particularly in Asian affairs. Second most important development is China`s assertive foreign policy and use of military strength to assert its sovereignty on disputed islands in the South China Sea. The third important development is erosion of self-confidence of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that used to display its image as a triumphant political grouping in a region, despite diversity in terms of political system, economic philosophy, religious beliefs and socio-cultural traditions. The present book is a by-product of two days of intense deliberations among large number of scholars on various issues and challenges faced by the countries of the Indo-Pacific region. The book includes the perspectives of major powers in the Indo-Pacific, analyses critical regional security issues, such as sovereignty issues in South China Sea, the rise of QUAD, role of soft power, challenges to ASEAN centrality and regionalism, and examines the non-traditional security threats, such as terrorism, nuclear proliferation, environmental degradation, drugs trafficking and health hazards.

The geographic constructs and the geo-political imaginations have dictated the formation of informal dialogue mechanisms and multilateral structures. During Cold War, the power bloc politics have subsumed these geographical definitions and have transcended national sovereign boundaries. In the contemporary discourse, new formulations like Asia-Pacific, East Asia and Indian Ocean have defined new politico-security thinking. The concept of Indo-Pacific is an over-arching geopolitical imagination which addresses new challenges in political, economic and maritime domains. This book addresses this new concept and debates its viability.

The definitive guide to the world's most contested region Updated edition covering the strategic impacts of Covid-19, China's economic coercion against Australia, the Afghanistan withdrawal, Joe Biden, the Quad and US-China rivalry. The Indo-Pacific is both a place and an idea. It is the region central to global prosperity and security. It is also a metaphor for collective action. If diplomacy fails, it will be the theatre of the first general war since 1945. But if its future can be secured, the Indo-Pacific will flourish as a shared space, the centre of gravity in a connected world. What we call different parts of the world - Asia, Europe, the Middle East - seems innocuous. But the name of a region is totemic- a mental map that guides the decisions of leaders and the story of international order, war and peace. In recent years, the label 'Indo-Pacific' has gained wide use, including among the leaders of the United States, India, Japan, Australia, Indonesia and France. But what does it really mean? Written by a recognised expert and regional policy insider, Contest for the Indo-Pacific is the definitive guide to tensions in the region. It deftly weaves together history, geopolitics, cartography, military strategy, economics, games and propaganda to address a vital question- how can China's dominance be prevented without war? 'The complexities of our region can easily bewilder those used to the Manichaean simplicity of the Cold War. Rory Medcalf's book is an elegant, keenly insightful tour of the Indo-Pacific's strategic horizon.' -Malcolm Turnbull

This book looks at the emerging power dynamics in the Indo-Pacific region and locates India and its interests within the overarching geostrategic framework. With US and China emerging as leading players within the region, the book analyses the challenges to India’s foreign policy in the face of new alliances, counter-alliances, and great power equations that have formed after the Cold War. It discusses important issues such as China’s strategic forays in the Indian Ocean, the balance of power between countries, India’s Act East opportunities, Russia’s re-engagement in the region, the South China Sea dispute, India’s maritime strategy, and the conundrum of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue facing India. A comprehensive study of the changing geopolitical and geostrategic environment of the Indo-Pacific region, the book will be an essential read for scholars and researchers of international relations, global politics, foreign policy, maritime studies, Chinese studies, South Asian studies, geopolitics, and strategic studies.