Asia-Pacific nations are adjusting their defence strategies and looking to strengthen security ties with the United States, as anxiety grows over China’s assertiveness and a potential conflict between the two superpowers, analysts say.
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It extends from South Asia to the Pacific Coast of the United States, and was first outlined by President Donald Trump in Vietnam in 2017, when he called for a free and open Indo-Pacific. Since then, the US has sought to strengthen alliances in the region, and there are recent signs that the strategy is gaining momentum.
Australia, for example, in July announced an additional US$190 billion in defence spending over the next decade, with Prime Minister Scott Morrison pointing to regional tensions over territorial claims and unprecedented military modernisation.
against Western powers that used to not have any reason to be more active and interested in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
China’s actions to protect its interests had been “directly threatening to the surrounding states’ own legitimate interests”, Batongbacal said.
“Given China’s technological and economic resources, it would have been entirely capable of safeguarding its national interests against any prospective US actions without having to do everything it has done in the past several years,” he said.
against Western powers that used to not have any reason to be more active and interested in the geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region,” he added.
China’s actions to protect its interests had been “directly threatening to the surrounding states’ own legitimate interests”, Batongbacal said.
China has created an environment of ‘my way or the highway’ which has made foreign policy choices more difficult –
“Given China’s technological and economic resources, it would have been entirely capable of safeguarding its national interests against any prospective US actions without having to do everything it has done in the past several years,” he said.
for claiming Kuala Lumpur had no right to seek the establishment of its continental shelf in the northern part of the South China Sea, in a statement to the UN.
Rajeev Ranjan Chaturvedy, an adjunct fellow with the Institute for Australia India Engagement in Brisbane, said China’s assertiveness and geopolitical churnings had created regional instability.
“While Beijing talks of ‘win-win’, dialogue and peaceful development, in reality China is unilaterally trying to impose its will on the region. Any country with a contrarian view is not only disliked by Beijing, but also faces economic and other consequences,” Chaturvedy said. “So, China has created an environment of ‘my way or the highway’ which has made foreign policy choices more difficult.”
However, both Batongbacal and Chaturvedy agreed that despite the growing support for the Indo-Pacific strategy, it was still a long way from being fully realised.
Batongbacal noted it was not quite a reality yet, but said there was a relatively loose coalition of like-minded states supporting it.
According to Chen Gang, assistant director and senior research fellow of the East Asian Institute at the National University of Singapore, the Indo-Pacific vision was still largely rhetoric.
“I don’t think the relevant countries, including the United States itself, have given the Indo-Pacific initiative full play thus far,” Chen said. “Huge uncertainties lie ahead with the US presidential election just around the corner, and most governments in the region are distracted by the pandemic. ”
