The Indo-Pacific Is Too Vast To Be Termed, Meaningfully, A Region

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Furthermore, although many a state has adopted an Indo-Pacific outlook in its strategizing, typically states (save for greater powers) still think of their national security in a strict regional sense.

So, the Indo-Pacific as a geopolitical space looks vastly different in Washington DC than it does in Jakarta, Wellington, Tokyo or Manila (to choose but a few).

This is not to say the Indo-Pacific concept should be ignored. It represents an important development in international security. The fact is that it has experienced the greatest geopolitical shift over the past decade or so – and this is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

The China factor

If not a region or super-region, then, what is the Indo-Pacific?

It is perhaps better thought of in terms of what international relations experts Barry Buzan and Ole Waever call“macrosecuritization”: the identification of an“existential threat” to something deemed precious and worth protecting that demands an immediate and, if necessary, extraordinary collective response to protect it.

This was given a major boost in 2017 when the United States – still by far the most powerful global actor – formally adopted the Indo-Pacific concept at the center of its strategic thinking.

In the process, it identified China as a clear strategic competitor. This decision had immediate real-world implications.

Firstly, it helped resuscitate, after nearly a decade of impasse, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad ) involving the US, Australia, India and Japan.

Secondly, after Joe Biden ran for president on an“America must lead again” foreign policy platform, it led to the formation of AUKUS in 2021 and the launch of the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity in 2022.

Geopolitical complexity

Importantly, not only the US is involved in this macrosecuritization. Australia, India, Japan and, more recently, the United Kingdom and European Union (and particular member states, such as France) are all involved.

Together they are pushing an Indo-Pacific concept that is built on the identification of the rules-based international order as being under existential threat due to China's rise and perceived assertiveness.

The framing of China as a“threat” rather than an“opportunity” – which dominated the previous“Asia-Pacific” construct – means a radically different perspective in the countries adopting Indo-Pacific outlooks.

This clearly matters greatly to regional geopolitics. But it still does not mean the Indo-Pacific has to be seen as a region or super-region.

Rather, the concept is distorting the geopolitics of different regions – especially East Asia, South-east Asia, South Asia and the South Pacific.

These remain genuine regions with their own unique security dynamics. But the Indo-Pacific idea is enveloping them and shifting the dynamics in a more pessimistic and paranoid direction.

A 'New Cold War'

There is now a concerning habit of treating the Indo-Pacific as a coherent unitary geopolitical space rather than a constellation of different regions.