Maritime Security and Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific Region

Abstract

The centre-of-gravity of world‘s economic power is shifting eastwards to the ‗Indo-Pacific‘, a maritime-configured macro-region that spans the maritime underbelly of Asia connecting the Indian and the western Pacific oceans. The security environment in the Indian Ocean and the western Pacific are different; nonetheless, strong maritime security linkages emerging between the two oceans has led to the reincarnation of the concept of ‗Indo-Pacific‘. Since the turn of the 21st century, new maritime insecurities have taken root, including in terms of China‘s revisionist positions on the established maritime order. Notwithstanding the US response in the western Pacific and the recent articulation of its ‗Indo-Pacific‘ strategy, it is unclear how the regional countries and the major regional stakeholders willmanage to address the emerging maritime insecurities in the Indian Ocean, including in terms of China‘s expanding politico-military footprint. This paper attempts to examine the security environment and geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific in context of India‘s national security interests.