Indo-Pacific region exhibits strategic momentousness garnering attention of all the major players of the international arena, calling them to devise some strategy about their approach towards the region. In connection to this, the global power centers; China and the U.S. pay special attention towards this region as it contains crucial communication lines and choke points i.e. the Bab el Mandeb, the Suez Canal, the Strait of Hormuz, the Malacca Straits, the Sunda Strait, and the Lombok Strait, significant for the global trade of resources and energy supplies across continents.
Additionally, Indo-Pacific region is the hub of geopolitical competition with many flashpoints including disputes on the territories of East China Sea and South China Sea, arms race, climate change, active piracy and organized crime. Both wants to gain hegemony over this strategically important region. In this regard, China has adopted assertive actions as a manifestation of its power projection whereas the U.S. has devised Australia-United Kingdom-United States alliance (AUKUS; a three-way defense pact) to overtly maintain law-based order but broadly to contain Chinese growing influence in the region. Consequently, both strive to gain control on the transit points of major trade routes necessary to gain a superiority on the international stage.
Concept of Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy
The concept of “Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy” has evolved over time. At the time of President Obama this phrase was referred as “Indo-Pacific Economic Corridor (IPEC)” whereas “Asia as pivot” was added later on. He connected the Indian and Pacific Ocean in a political and military reference. After Obama came President Donald Trump in the year 2017 where he criticized the previous government for not addressing the region’s policy in a practical manner and introduced his vision for this region which was renamed as “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. Later on, at the Munich Security Conference the U.S. Defense official called on the allies of both China and the U.S. indirectly to pick one out of the two while cooperating with reference to this particular region.
In 2018, for the very first time, U.S. Vice President Mike Pence delivered a speech calling out China’s aggressive actions in the South China Sea. By aggressive actions he referred to illegal patrolling of China around Indo-Pacific’s Islands as well as the militarization of South China Sea owing to nine-dash line as its exclusive property. Interestingly, the U.S. call its actions in the Indo-Pacific as freedom of navigation operations whereas blames China of being aggressive. However, the U.S.’s main objective of its Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy is no longer a visible plan to contain China in the region. In contrast, U.S. shall now be implementing this strategy in the form of four cardinal principles i.e. respect for the sovereignty and integrity of all Asian nations, conflict resolution in a peaceful manner, to guarantee free trade for all nations and proper implementation of all Law of Seas(LOS). Therefore, it’s clear that the U.S. is trying to pull apart China’s maritime aspirations portraying its self-devised strategies to the world as a collective good desiring the world order to fall in its favor.
Strategic Importance of the Indo-Pacific Region and its Economic Framework:
The strategic importance of Indo-Pacific region has varied interpretations for different countries. It highly depends on how much significance they grant to the region in terms of fulfillment of their own interests. For instance, the Indo-Pacific interpretation for the US is to make it an open and free theatre where maritime rules-based order shall be implemented in a stricter sense. By this, it excludes the countries that don’t abide by the laws in the region or deviate from the normal code of conduct. Another interpretation is that of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN). These states believe in the concept of consociation which means that power-sharing is to be gained by opposing social groups via cooperation with each other. In the Indo-Pacific context, this concept calls for practical cooperation and commitment with China by ASEAN States and not treat it just as any other stake holder. The reason being most of the ASEAN States are economically facilitated by China. Therefore, they cannot afford to act anti-Chinese. Furthermore, China is the biggest trading counterpart of ASEAN States.
The Fulcrum of the Geopolitical environment seems to be changing as after the Cold War the attention of international spectators has turned from Atlantic Ocean to the Asian particularly Indo-Pacific Region. For the last 75 years, the international order that was purely liberal led by the U.S. was there but recently that has been challenged by other significant players where China is a major beneficiary. Because of such a counterpart, the U.S. has now been evaluating the crucial regions from a whole new perspective. Therefore, the Asia Pivot changed into Indo-Pacific where Asia is now the epicenter. A shift in the balance of power has also happened which has a number of causes. It includes the securitization and stability in the most crucial region from where most of the global trade takes place. Additionally, the Indo-Pacific Region has some important sea lanes, being property of no state and need to be protected in case of any aggressive captivation (referred to China). Apart from countries’ individual perspectives, Indo-Pacific is not only all about trade routes but it calls for security and awareness from the international players so that everyone can work together for prosperity. Furthermore, in the face of a multipolar world, this region should not be the theatre of competition. Lastly, it needs to be worked on in the face of terrorism which is operating in the regions in the Indo-Pacific surroundings.
As far as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework is concerned, it was launched by U.S. President Joe Biden in 2022 in Tokyo, Japan. Later on, it is joined by 12 countries including Indonesia, Australia, Brunei, India, Singapore, Thailand, and some others. The White House Press Statement shed light on the significance of this alliance quoting “This framework is intended to advance infrastructure, trade, resilience, economic upheaval of the members, and sustainability for the economies of all member nations”. However, this framework has some domestic and global aspirations to fulfill on part of the U.S. On the domestic side, it is a lag-in project of Biden’s Era so as to make U.S. economy strong through resilient supply chains to allow american citizens as well as businesses to operate in the region proactively. On the global front, this project intends to balance Chinese growing influence. China finalized Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) five months prior to Indo-Pacific Economic Framework led by the U.S. It is one of the largest trade alliances in the world to date. Hence, some way or the other the U.S. is facing challenges posed by China at this point in time risking balance of power overall.
China’s motivation in the Indo-Pacific region is a broader phenomenon. China’s strategic aspirations are the back-end motivation for its actions in the Indo-Pacific region. Its actions are directed towards East Asia and the Western Pacific region. China is continuously upgrading its military and economic capabilities to leverage itself in the face of the U.S.’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region. Preliminarily, China is having considerable ascendency over world countries in face of its impactful diplomacy and economic strategy. China according to her 2011 Peaceful Development document, has two major aspirations that are corelated to each other. First one is national reunification and the second one is territorial integrity. Within the surroundings of Indo-Pacific, East Asia is a major region holding significance for attainment of these interests. In considering the first aim, reunification of Taiwan is a major priority. In addition, Chinese neighbors may individually or through a coalition can frustrate China in fulfilling its aims. Furthermore, China has rising maritime disputes in Yellow Sea, East China Sea and South China Sea. China has always tried to press these issues by using its military might and also to assert its claims.
Role of Alliances:
It is important to note how alliances are important to assert power in the international arena. In this regard, the U.S. alliances are resilient but are not declared problem free. Undeniably, at last each country prioritizes the one that aligns with the attainment of their own national interests. Moreover, the US has made some successful partners in the fields of interoperability, military exercises, defense production integration and military co-operations such as Maritime Security Initiative (MSI) and “The QUAD Consultations” held among the Quad members led by the U.S. It takes decades for the nations to construct deeply institutionalized interoperative mechanisms in the form of annual joint exercises and shared aspirations as in the case of the U.S. and its long-term allies. China is currently in action to counterforce the U.S. alliances and is doing so by rising as an economic giant for global supply chains and is becoming almost irresistible. Discernibly, the states are critically evaluating who to align with in this U.S.-China tug of war.
For Instance, China has recently joined the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) especially after the U.S. rejecting its prior form i.e. Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the intra-Asian partnership bolstering in Chinese favor. In addition, one of the largest economies in South East Asian Region i.e. Indonesia and in the South Asian emerging economy i.e. India may feel compelled to join this platform due to its irresistible advantages of trade benefits and tariffs reduction opportunities. On the other hand, the U.S. remains important to its trade allies for its good remittances, private capital markets, government securities, use of high-level technologies and above all the use of dollar as a global currency across the globe. These are some of the structural plus points presented to the U.S. allies but it does not mean that it could not be eroded. In the recent times, it is well acknowledged that Chinese strategic capabilities are far-reaching and are a definite challenge to the U.S. supremacy turning contemporary world order bipolar.
Finally, The Sino-U.S. competition in the recent decades has many aspects such as military, economy, infrastructure, political influence etc. but with reference to the Indo-Pacific region, this competition is all about technology, communication lines control and geography related superiority. The one having control in this region in terms of technology and the communication lines domination shall ultimately rule the Indo-Pacific’s maritime regime. In the face of such a competition, the U.S. from the last two decades has tried to articulate its national security strategy in face of growing assertive behavior of China. Additionally, East Asia and Pacific region is the one where the U.S. is currently trying to draw its attention and allocate its resources to overcome challenges posed by China to its long-time maritime aspirations. These are the regions both players have recognized holding weightiness and the hegemony of which shall certainly provide an edge to their respective success or failure in fulfilling their regional and global ambitions.
