With the first meeting of U.S. President Joe Biden with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on March 12, developments and trends in the Indo-Pacific region have once again become one of the most talked about geopolitical issues in recent times. Today, we are launching a new column called “Indo-Pacific Insights” to introduce and analyze the new developments in the Indo-Pacific region, which are closely related to the international situation, every Saturday.
For the past four years, the Trump administration has been emphasizing the importance of the Indo-Pacific strategy, which has received the approval and participation of allies such as Japan and Australia, as well as otherwise neutral countries such as India. It is worth noting that, perhaps uncomfortable with the Biden Administration that later succeeded it and hoping to put further pressure on it, the Trump Administration broke with its customary declassification of the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategic framework it developed in 2018 less than eight days before stepping down on Jan. 12. Robert O’Brien, then national security adviser, issued a statement to that effect, saying, “This document was declassified to let the American people and our allies and partners know that the United States remains committed to ensuring that freedom and openness in the Indo-Pacific region will last far into the future.”
After the change of government in the United States in January, the Biden administration that followed did not abandon the Trump administration’s efforts to construct a framework based on democratic powers in the region. The Biden administration, which has continually emphasized that the United States should rebuild its alliances and partnerships, went on to take the four-nation dialogue mechanism to the leadership level, and for the first Time issued a joint statement in the name of the four heads of state, and even co-authored an op-ed in the Washington Post to articulate the four countries’ vision and philosophy of a free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Four-nation dialogue takes geopolitical foreground, with Shinzo Abe taking credit
Although in this article the leaders of the four countries point out that the U.S., Japan, India and Australia were involved in leading relief efforts in this form as early as 2004 after the Indian Ocean tsunami, which was also the first mobilization of the mechanism, the geopolitical concept of the so-called Indo-Pacific has actually been sent to the international stage in recent years, and also traced back to the era of former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Back in 2007, during his visit to India during his first term as prime minister, Shinzo Abe delivered a speech in the Indian parliament entitled “The Meeting of Two Oceans. In his speech, he stated that “the Pacific and Indian Oceans are vibrantly linking as seas of freedom and prosperity, and an ‘expanded Asia’ breaking down geographical boundaries is beginning to take shape.” In the same year, Indian strategic scholar Gurpreet S Khurana introduced the concept of “Indo-Pacific” to refer to the geopolitical region of Asian and East African countries bordering the Indian and Western Pacific Oceans.
In January 2013, Shinzo Abe, soon to be re-elected as Prime Minister of Japan, published an article entitled “Center Stage in the 21st Century: Confrontation in the Indian Ocean” that made the concept of the Indo-Pacific a topic of widespread interest in international relations and policy circles. “I have conceived a strategy to form a rhombus of Australia, India, Japan, and the United States in Hawaii to defend the high seas from the Indian Ocean region to the Western Pacific. I am ready to contribute Japan’s strength to this security rhombus to the maximum extent possible.” In February of the same year, Shinzo Abe again mentioned the Indo-Pacific concept in a speech in Washington, D.C., during his visit to the United States.
In August 2016, Shinzo Abe formally introduced the concept of a “free and open Indo-Pacific strategy” at the African Development Conference in Kenya, demonstrating more clearly a sense of strategic integration of the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions as a holistic geographic space. According to the Indo-Pacific Strategy proposed by the Abe administration in 2016, it refers to cooperation among countries that share the values of democracy, freedom, rule of law and market economy in the Pacific to Indian Ocean region. It is led by four countries: Japan, the United States, Australia and India. In the economic and security fields, Japan, the U.S., Australia, India and other Asian countries are deepening their cooperation, with the intention of, to a certain extent, countering Beijing‘s growing influence and control in the region through measures such as the “Belt and Road”, the “21st Century Maritime Silk Road” and the militarization of the South China Sea. The United States, Japan, India, and Australia have issued a joint publication.
U.S., Japanese, Indian and Australian Leaders Publish Joint Article on Free and Open Indo-Pacific Concept
However, perhaps to avoid forcing other countries in the region to choose sides between Beijing and the four at the outset, and because U.S. officials have repeatedly emphasized that this is not a new Indo-Pacific version of NATO, the leaders of the four countries did not mention a word about China in either the relevant statements issued after their first meeting or in the joint article mentioned above, but instead articulated to the world what they proposed, that “We, the four countries, are committed to the vision of a free, open, secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.” In response, the leaders wrote in a joint statement, “We convened to reaffirm our commitment to quadripartite cooperation between Australia, India, Japan and the United States. We bring diverse perspectives and unite for a common vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific. We strive to build a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, based on democratic values, and free from coercive constraints.”
The four leaders said, “We share a commitment to promote a free, open, rule-based order based on international law to promote security and prosperity and to address threats in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond. We support the rule of law, freedom of navigation and overflight, peaceful settlement of disputes, democratic values and territorial integrity. We are committed to working together with a range of partners. We reaffirm our strong support for the unity and centrality of ASEAN and its Indo-Pacific Vision. The Quad is full of potential and looks to the future; it seeks to preserve peace and prosperity and strengthen democratic resilience based on universal values.”
According to the Quad leaders, “Our shared goals require us to address the most pressing global challenges. Today, we commit to addressing the economic and health impacts of the new crown Epidemic, tackling climate change, and addressing common challenges, including in the areas of cyberspace, critical technologies, counterterrorism, quality infrastructure investments, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, and maritime affairs.” They committed, “At the leaders’ level, we will hold a face-to-face summit by the end of 2021. The ambition of these events has evolved with the times; we are committed to using our partnership to help the world’s most dynamic region respond to historic crises and make it the free, open, accessible, diverse and prosperous Indo-Pacific we all seek.”
Blinken talks about the development of the Indo-Pacific strategy at NATO headquarters
It is worth noting that as the concept of the Indo-Pacific region is gaining traction. France, Germany and the Netherlands, as EU countries, have also issued strategy documents for the region. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who spoke after attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers this week, specifically mentioned related issues. Blinken said, “First and foremost, there are military threats from other countries. We see it in China’s efforts to threaten freedom of navigation, to militarize the South China Sea, and to target countries throughout the Indo-Pacific region with increasingly sophisticated military capabilities. Beijing’s military ambitions are growing year by year. Coupled with the reality of modern technology, challenges that once seemed half a world away are no longer distant.”
Blinken mentioned, “Second, we must modernize our alliances. This begins with improving our military capabilities and readiness to ensure that we maintain a robust and credible military deterrent. For example, we must ensure that our strategic nuclear deterrent remains safe, secure and effective, particularly in light of Russia’s modernization.” This is critical to maintaining our strong and credible commitment to our allies, even as we take steps to further diminish the role of nuclear weapons in our national security,” he said. We will also work with our Indo-Pacific allies to address the broad range of complex security challenges in the region.”
Blinken continued, “Third, we must weave a broader coalition of allies and partners. Too often, we have left our alliances and partnerships in isolation. We haven’t done enough to link them together. But we should do so. Because the more countries with complementary strengths and capabilities can come together to achieve common goals, the better.” He said, “That’s the idea behind what we call the ‘Quad Dialogue’ – Australia, India, Japan and the United States. President Biden recently hosted the first-ever summit of the leaders of the ‘Quad’.” He said, “We share a vision of a free, open, inclusive and healthy Indo-Pacific region, free from coercion and based on democratic values. We are a great team. Our collaboration will strengthen parallel efforts to secure the East and South China Seas and expand safe, affordable and effective vaccine production and equitable access.”
“A little optimism and confidence” in Eisenhower’s eyes 70 years ago
Blinken said, “Seventy years ago, a U.S. Army private training at Fort Dix, N.J., wrote a letter to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, then serving in Europe as the first Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces. In the letter, the private asked Eisenhower if there was more to his service than just – ‘kill or be killed.” Blinken said, “Eisenhower was a seasoned realist. He had seen up close and personal the devastation of war. He was well aware of the Life-and-death consequences of putting American lives on the line to protect our allies.”
Yet, Blinken said, Eisenhower still believed, as he put it in a letter to the soldier, that “true human purpose encompasses something richer and more constructive than the mere survival of the strongest. The United States and its allies, he wrote, must work together to build a system rooted in shared values.” And those words are not so different from the values that guide our daily lives in America – as Eisenhower said, ‘trying to solve the many problems that constantly present themselves to us in a decent, fair and just way,'” Blinken said. That does not mean trying to solve every problem in the world.” Rather, he explained, “it means that when we must solve a problem, we do not lose sight of our values, which are at the same time a source of strength and humility. Eisenhower told the soldier that he hoped those words would provide him with ‘a little optimism and confidence.'”
Blinken noted, “Now, Eisenhower could not have imagined many of the challenges we face today. But he knew that whatever new threats emerge, we want to face them with partners who share our values.” He added that “last year was one of the most challenging periods in our nation’s history, but we still haven’t emerged from the crisis – even though we see real reasons for hope.” Blinken said, “But our work with our allies and partners gives us more than just a little optimism and confidence. It shows us the way forward: together, rooted in our shared values, we are committed not only to rebuilding our alliances and partnerships, but to building them back better. If we do this, there is no challenge that we cannot and will not overcome. Thank you all!”
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