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.

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

Exploring 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 second edition has been revised, updated, and expanded to explain the major build-up of deterrence hubs during 2022–2023 in the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR). The hubs have a clear focus on North Asia (Japan and South Korea), the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan and the South China Sea (the Philippines, Vietnam, and Australia), and India and the Indian Ocean littoral areas (the Persian Gulf and the Bay of Bengal). This edition takes into account the effects of the Ukraine–Russia and Israel–Hamas/Iran proxies’ conflicts on the build-up of Russia–China–North Korea–Iran ties and the naval projections by China and Russia in North Pacific, off the Alaska coast, and in relation to Myanmar and Bangladesh and the Gulf/Red Sea areas. Within the purview of maritime security and NATO, the present century is critical with the introduction of missiles and nuclear submarine technology into IPR and by the fragmentation of arms control and nuclear and missile non-proliferation arrangements of the 1960s–2000 period. This volume predicts that China’s oft-proclaimed rise to global hegemonic status is not inevitable because of its many economic–social problems and foreign policy dilemmas. Nor is World War III inevitable because no one seeks unlimited warfare, but the regions in conflict will likely remain on a low boil. However, problem-solving and crisis resolution will remain problematic, keeping the 21st century at its toes, due to the inability of regional powers to unite for the common good. Complete with a list of further reading, Geopolitics and the Indo-Pacific Region fills a gap in the market and will be of great interest to upper-year-level undergraduates, postgraduate students, and researchers studying international relations, IPR geopolitics, Asian politics, and Asian security studies.

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.

Hindsight, Insight, Foresight is a tour d’horizon of security issues in the Indo-Pacific. Written by 20 current and former members of the faculty at the Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies, its 21 chapters provide hindsight, insight, and foresight on numerous aspects of security in the region. This book will help readers to understand the big picture, grasp the changing faces, and comprehend the local dynamics of regional security.

This book focuses on the Indo-Pacific region’s growing prominence as the world’s major powers gravitate toward this space to expand their influence. With dynamic shifts taking place in the globe’s most strategically volatile region, Indo-Pacific Strategies aims at clarifying the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, expounded both as a strategic concept and nascent region, thus contributing to the burgeoning policy and academic debate. The book offers indispensable insights and appropriate remedies to maintain the rules-based international order as threatened by China’s increasingly assertive and bellicose posturing. It offers up-to-date analyses of Covid-19-related geopolitical trends, the strategies of various Indo-Pacific states against the backdrop of great power competition, the increasingly confrontational stance of Indo-Pacific states against China and the 2020 US election results. This unique book presents deep insights into the roles of Eurasia, small island states, the Middle East and Africa, in addition to Australia, India, Japan and the US, thereby providing much needed comparative studies. It also closely investigates the strategic and tactical operationalization of the Indo-Pacific, making it an essential read for scholars, policymakers, students, and strategists in the field of international politics and Area Studies. Excerpt from the foreword by ABE Shinzō, (former) Prime Minister of Japan "I think this book is the timeliest attempt to bring together the wisdom of eleven people to present a multifaceted view of the FOIP [Free and Open Indo-Pacific]. As a reader, I would like to express my gratitude to the editors and contributors for their valuable intellectual contributions." See the preview function on this website to access the full text.

In the twenty-first century, the Indo-Pacific, which spans from the western Pacific Ocean to the western Indian Ocean along the eastern coast of Africa, has emerged as a crucial geostrategic region for trade, investment, energy supplies, cooperation, and competition. It presents complex maritime security challenges and interlocking economic interests that require the development of an overarching multilateral security framework. This volume develops common approaches by focusing on geopolitical challenges, transnational security concerns, and multilateral institution-building and cooperation. The chapters, written by a cross-section of practitioners, diplomats, policymakers, and scholars from the three major powers discussed (United States, China, India) explain the opportunities and risks in the Indo-Pacific region and identify specific naval measures needed to enhance maritime security in the region. Maritime Security in the Indo-Pacific opens by introducing the Indo-Pacific and outlining the roles of China, India, and the United States in various maritime issues in the region. It then focuses on the security challenges presented by maritime disputes, naval engagement, legal issues, sea lanes of communication, energy transport, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, as well as by nontraditional threats, such as piracy, terrorism, and weapons proliferation. It compares and contrasts the roles and perspectives of the key maritime powers, analyzing the need for multilateral cooperation to overcome the traditional and nontraditional challenges and security dilemma. This shows that, in spite of their different interests, capabilities, and priorities, Washington, Beijing and New Delhi can and do engage in cooperation to deal with transnational security challenges. Lastly, the book describes how to promote maritime cooperation by establishing or strengthening multilateral mechanisms and measures that would reduce the prospects for conflict in the Indo-Pacific region.

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.

During the last twenty years, burgeoning transnational trade, investment and production linkages have emerged in the area between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. The appearance of this area of interdependence and interaction and its potential impact on global order has captured the attention of political leaders, and the concept of the Indo-Pacific region is increasingly appearing in international political discourse. This book explores the emergence of the Indo-Pacific concept in different national settings. Chapters engage with critical theories of international relations, regionalism, geopolitics and geoeconomics in reflecting on the domestic and international drivers and foreign policy debates around the Indo-Pacific concept in Australia, India, the United States, Indonesia and Japan. They evaluate the reasons why the concept of the Indo-Pacific has captured the imaginations of policy makers and policy analysts in these countries and assess the implications of competing interpretations of the Indo-Pacific for conflict and cooperation in the region. A significant contribution to the analysis of the emerging geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific, this book will be of interest to researchers in the field of Asian Studies, International Relations, Regionalism, Foreign Policy Analysis and Geopolitics.

In recent years, the descriptive term ‘Indo-Pacific’ has entered the geo-strategic lexicon as a substitute for the more established expression ‘Asia-Pacific’. Defined as an integrated strategic system that best captures the shift in power and influence from the West to the East, the concept has dominated strategic debates and discussions, gaining rapidly in currency and acceptance. Popular though the term has become, its strategic context and underlying logic are still sharply contested. While proponents of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ advance compelling arguments in its favour, the debate over whether it is a valid construct, is not quite settled. Consequently, it is yet to gain full acceptance among regional analysts and policy makers who appear unsure about embracing the idea without any qualifying caveats. Even so, the Indo-Pacific has emerged as a significant strategic space and a theatre of great-power competition. From a maritime security perspective, its importance as a geo-economic hub is accentuated by the growing presence of non-traditional threats. Piracy, terrorism, gun running, illegal fishing, trafficking, global warming and natural disasters represent challenges to maritime security that are inherently transnational in nature – where dynamics in one part of the system influence events in another, necessitating coordinated security operations by maritime forces and strategic relationships between stakeholder states. Papers put together in this book seek to appraise the Indo-Pacific, by examining the concept holistically, deciphering the trends that impact maritime security in the region and identifying its emerging patterns. Apart from examining the inherent logic underpinning the concept, these provide perspectives on security in the Indo-Pacific region, evaluate the strategic implications of competition, conflict and instability in the region, and bring out the operational implications of using a frame of reference that combines two contiguous albeit disparate maritime theatres.