What’s in a name? The Indo-Pacific is many things. It is a 21st-century map of the globally-central strategic system centred on maritime Asia. It is, quite literally, Australia’s place in the world. It may be a basis for a strategy of multipolarity and balancing to moderate the power of a rising China. And it is a region in which China’s interests and presence are growing.
In the interests of robust, scholarly and policy-relevant debate, Policy Forum has launched this section on the contested concept of the Indo-Pacific. We hope you find its contents of value, and invite contributions to the conversation.
Professor Rory Medcalf
Guest Editor, Indo-Pacific In Focus section
Podcast: Diving into the Indo-Pacific debate
Rapid Round-Up: Australia’s Foreign Policy White Paper
Mapping our Indo-Pacific future: Rory Medcalf’s speech
Australia needs Indo-Pacific clarity | Denise Fisher
The Indo-Pacific is what you make of it| Andrew Phillips
Podcast: Putting the ‘Indo’ in Indo-Pacific | David Brewster
International relations | Australia
This episode of the National Security Podcast draws a line through the emerging geopolitical concept of the Indo-Pacific. As security policies evolve, Chris Farnham asks how nations in the region are internalising the Indo-Pacific concept and incorporating it into national strategy.
As competition rises amongst major powers of the Indo-Pacific, so do concerns around China’s increasing involvement in small Pacific nations and their economies, Bahauddin Foizee writes.
4 minute read
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Amidst mounting tensions between China and the US, this year’s Shangri-La Dialogue saw several countries reveal their own hopes and dreams for the Indo-Pacific, as well as reinforcing the lack of trust existing in the region, Huong Le Thu writes.
6 minute read
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India and Japan have reasons to strengthen their Indo-Pacific partnership, though it may never amount to a formal alliance, Tan Ming Hui and Nazia Hussain write.
5 minute read
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The increasingly apparent fragility of the rules-based order, as well as a lively debate on security and defence, are stepping up European interest in the Indo-Pacific, Eva Pejsova writes.
8 minute read
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This year Policy Forum produced more than 60 podcasts covering a huge range of issues, from LGBT rights in India, to Indigenous water rights in Northern Australia, and from the rise of populism around the world, to the mechanics of the Australian Public Service. In this post, we present you the top 10 of our policy podcasts from this year that you were listening to (and if you didn’t listen to them, well, what else do you have planned over the festive break?)
Government and governance | Asia
Alongside negotiating its relationship with the European Union, the British government has been developing naval and military connections in Asia, John Hemmings writes.
5 minute read
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Japan’s Indo-Pacific strategy needs clearer edges if the country is to ensure the regional order remains free and open, Kei Koga writes.
7 minute read
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International relations | Australia
If countries of the Indo-Pacific are to be prepared for the maritime threats of the future, they must know what’s happening at sea. David Brewster writes that Australia can share its expertise with the region at a relatively low cost.
6 minute read
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Government and governance | Asia
More and more countries are buying in to the Indo-Pacific construct. They must overcome the problems of coordination and burden-sharing if the concept is to have strategic teeth, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan writes.
5 minutes
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