By Vivek Mishra
India will need to demonstrate diplomatic skill in this emerging region. Working with Australia would be a good start.
In the evolving geopolitical discourse, the Indo-Pacific has been transformed from a biogeographic region into a strategic one. Accompanying this change in perception is a change is scope, with strategists considering now not just the tropical Indian Ocean, but also the western and sometimes even central Pacific Ocean. The emergence of this newly defined area is significant, and not just for the region itself. So much so that some observers are now talking of an “Indo-Pacific Pivot.”
The Indo-Pacific ranges from East Africa, across the Indian Ocean, to the western and central Pacific, including Japan and Australia. Within this vast area, cooperation between countries and systems of alliances form, such as cooperation between the U.S., Japan and Australia, countering trends such as China’s assertive behavior in the South China Sea and its growing presence in the Indian Ocean. This is not to pit one group against another, but rather to point out that there is a subtle heterogeneity involved in emerging Indo-Pacific relations.
The region’s strategic and economic significance is meanwhile growing. From South to East Asia, trade has surged and, especially with the rise of Asian powers like China and India, the Indo-Pacific incorporates some of the busiest sea lanes in the world. The rise in commerce creates political and strategic interests, along with concerns that these interests may be under threat with the rise of China and its assertive maritime behavior. It is in fact these concerns that have helped encourage the emergence of the concept of an Indo-Pacific region, although at least two other factors are at play: the U.S. pivot to Asia and, more recently, direct mention and discussion of the concept in Australia’s Defence White Paper (2013).
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