Abstract
The collective rise of the eastern countries represented by China and India has caused the shift of world’s center of gravity. In response to this situation, the Indo-Pacific region with the ocean as the main boundary has become the central stage for the game of all countries. Indo-Pacific has also quickly transformed from a geographic concept into geographic reality and entered into national strategies of various countries. The name of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy may change with the change of the Trump administration, but the core content of the Indo-Pacific strategy will remain unchanged. In other words, the US strengthens the existing alliances and establishes new alliances to contain China’s rapid rise, thus preventing any force in the Indo-Pacific region from threatening the US hegemony. The US’ current Indo-Pacific strategy is the concentric circles of the US-Indo-Pacific, the US-South Asia, and the US-India established according to the realism and the Cold War mentality based on the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia-Pacific”. The Australia-India-Japan-US alliance or Quad, which has been greatly discussed in China, may not be established realistically. However, the United States is increasing its military presence in Indo-Pacific region and establishing the bilateral or multilateral networks through alliances in the Indo-Pacific region. The Indo-Pacific order, aimed to establish a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, is actually an exclusive system design against China, which will have a direct impact on China’s “Belt and Road” and Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation. To this end, while prudently and resolutely promoting the implementation of the “Belt and Road”, China should encourage the institutional design of ASEAN-dominated Indo-Pacific structure and support the establishment of an open Indo-Pacific system arrangement based on the existing East Asia Summit. This should become the main content of China’s Indo-Pacific strategy.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Liu (2015).
- 3.
Thompson (1973).
- 4.
Barry and Weaver (2010).
- 5.
Jackson and Sorenson (2010).
- 6.
The Indian Ocean tsunami occurred on December 26, 2004. It’s the second largest earthquake since 1900. The earthquake triggered a tsunami as high as 30 m, which spread into Oman in the Persian Gulf, Somalia and Mauritius on the east coast of Africa, Reunion and others. The earthquake and the post-earthquake tsunami caused huge casualties in Southeast Asia and South Asia, with at least 290,000 people dead and missing.
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See Footnote 7.
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See Footnote 7.
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See Footnote 1.
- 12.
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- 13.
A detailed analysis is made in the next section of this paper; for the joint statements by the two countries, please refer to: United States and India: Prosperity Through Partnership, June 2017 https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/united-states-india-prosperity-partnership/. (Visit Date: January 10, 2018).
- 14.
Krishnan (2016).
- 15.
Rong (2017).
- 16.
“National Security Strategy of United States,” Dec. 2017. http://nssarchive.us/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2017.pdf. (Date of Visit: January 10, 2018).
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Singh et al. (2018).
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See Footnote 16.
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See Footnote 16.
- 20.
Michael Green, Kathleen Hicks, Mark Cancian, “Asia-Pacific Rebalance 2025 Capabilities, Presence, and Partnerships: An Independent Review of U.S. Defense Strategy in the Asia-Pacific,” Center for Strategic and International Studies, pp. 1–25. 2018.01.05. https://csis-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/legacy_files/files/publication/160119_Green_AsiaPacificRebalance2025_Web_0.pdf. (Date of Visit: January 15, 2018).
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See Footnote 16.
- 22.
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- 23.
See Footnote 16.
- 24.
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- 26.
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- 27.
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See Footnote 1.
- 31.
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- 32.
The home port of Reagan Aircraft Carrier is located at Yokosuka, Japan; the home ports of Theodore Roosevelt and Carl Vinson Aircraft Carriers are both located at Santiago; the home port of John Stennis Aircraft Carrier is located at the Bremerton Naval Base and the home port of Nimitz Aircraft Carrier. The home port is at the Everett Naval Base.
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See Footnote 40.
- 44.
Liu (2016).
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- 47.
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See Footnote 20.
- 49.
India’s diplomacy toward the US is closely related to China’s diplomacy toward the US. As long as China and the US have established relevant mechanisms, India will request to establish the same mechanisms with the US. The establishment of the India-US 2 + 2 Dialogue was proposed after the China-US leaders met and confirmed the establishment of diplomatic security dialogue at Mar-a-Lago in April 2017. India’s logic is that since the US considers itself a world power, then India’s status should equal to that of another world power—China.
- 50.
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- 54.
See Footnote 44.
- 55.
Zhang (2018).
- 56.
See Footnote 52.
- 57.
See Footnote 44.
- 58.
See Footnote 52.
- 59.
“United States and India: Prosperity Through Partnership,” https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/united-states-india-prosperity-partnership/. (Date of Visit: March 10, 2018).
- 60.
See Footnote 52.
- 61.
See Footnote 52.
- 62.
Liu (2014).
- 63.
See Footnote 28.
- 64.
Gupta (2017).
- 65.
Michael D. Swaine, “A Counterproductive Cold War With China Washington’s “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” Strategy Will Make Asia Less Open and Less Free,” Foreign Affairs, https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/china/2018-03-02/counterproductive-cold-war-china?amp. (Date of Visit: March 18, 2018).
- 66.
See Footnote 4.
- 67.
See Footnote 4.
- 68.
Press release issued by the Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, QUESTION NO.653 MEETING WITH OFFICIALS ON THE SIDELINES OF ASEAN, http://www.mea.gov.in/rajya-sabha.htm?dtl/29212/question+no653+meeting+with+officials+on+the+sidelines+of+asean; Press release issued by the US Department of State, Australia-India-Japan-U.S. Consultations on the Indo-Pacific, https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/11/275464.htm; Press release issued by the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Australia-India-Japan-United States consultations on the Indo-Pacific, http://dfat.gov.au/news/media/Pages/aus-india-japan-us-consultations-on-the-indo-pacific.aspx; Press release issued by the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Australia-India-Japan-U.S. Consultations on the Indo-Pacific, http://www.mofa.go.jp/press/release/press4e_001789.html.
- 69.
Zhang Jiadong: “New Expansion Tendency of India: Status, Characteristics and Limitations”, People’s Tribune · Frontiers, Issue 01, 2018, pp. 6-18.
- 70.
The 2nd Indo-Pacific Forum was jointly organized by the Indian Maritime Foundation and the Indian Navy, which was attended by the Indian Minister of Defense, Chief of Staff, Minister of Water Resources, and the former Foreign Secretary Dr.S. Jaishankar. The author was invited to be present at the Forum. The above content is from the concept text of this conference released by the conference organizer, which can basically represent the current Indian officials’ opinions and views on the Indo-Pacific region.
- 71.
Song (2016).
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Acknowledgements
Supported by: Study on the Impact of Southeast Asian Security Pattern on China’s Implementation of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (16ZDA091), a major project of the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC) in 2016; Study on the Impact of International Mechanisms of the Indian Ocean Region on Maritime Silk Road Construction (15CGJ030), a youth project of the National Social Science Fund of China (NSSFC) in 2015.
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Liu, P. (2019). Connotation and Dilemma of the US Indo-Pacific Strategy and China’s Responses. In: Zhu, C. (eds) Annual Report on the Development of the Indian Ocean Region (2018). Research Series on the Chinese Dream and China’s Development Path. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7693-1_6
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