https://www.policyforum.net/policy-file-make-indo-pacific/ The APPS Policy Forum a public policy website devoted to Asia and the Pacific. Thu, 28 Jun 2018 00:27:26 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.1.7 https://www.policyforum.net/policy-file-make-indo-pacific/#comment-11747 Mon, 21 May 2018 10:54:39 +0000 https://www.policyforum.net/?p=24794#comment-11747 Ever since Shinzo Abe spoke of the confluence of Two Oceans at the Indian Parliament in 2007, the Indo-Pacific has become part of the geostrategic lexicon. However, to this day it means different things to different people notwithstanding President Trump’s endorsement of the term last year during his Asia visit. However while the US, Australia, Japan and India still differ on its geographical extent depending on their perceived interests, China has understood its full import and geographic extremities and is present from Djibouti in the west to the eastern end of the Western Pacific in the east.
China is today the dominant maritime power east of the Malacca Straits, the imposing presence of the USN notwithstanding. Extending this reach into the Indian Ocean is integral to its Far Seas strategy in its relentless Mahanian quest for maritime power as the forerunner to eventual global power status. There is little that can be done to stop this Chinese juggernaut without a focussed approach by the ‘arc of maritime democracies’ who are doing little of note at present, either individually or collectively.

]]> https://www.policyforum.net/policy-file-make-indo-pacific/#comment-11746 Mon, 21 May 2018 07:39:07 +0000 https://www.policyforum.net/?p=24794#comment-11746 While it was Shinzo Abe who first spoke of the Confluence of Two oceans when addressing the Indian Parliament in 2007 which gave rise to this term, the roots of this can be traced back to history eg the Hindu influence in SE Asia (:Angkor Vat et al).
However that notwithstanding,, while it means different things tothe US, Australia, Japan and India it is China which has embraced it wholeheartedly from Djibouti to Japan and is integral to their Far Seas strategy and Mahanian aspirations of Maritime power.
As India also looks at this larger geostrategic seascape, competition is inevitable, confrontation very possible and conflict a distant but distinct possibility. We are looking at Cold War 2.0 in the Indo-Pacific from 2025 onwards.

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