The book offers a vivid analysis of the new geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific in terms of big power rivalry between the US-China and country-wise perspectives situating largely within the late 2000s and culminates with the developments of the COVID-19 period. The great power shift, marked by the rise of China and the relative decline of the US, poses a serious challenge to the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region and the world order in general. Ironically, the play of realism in the region is stymied by broad partnerships of key countries that utilise the liberal approaches of cooperation with both rivals – the US and China. The book captures the mosaic of stakeholders – rivals the US and China along with Russia; other QUAD members Australia, India, and Japan; key ASEAN members, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam; vulnerable states in East Asia, viz. Taiwan and South Korea; and groupings including the ASEAN and QUAD – that constitute the new world politics of the Indo-Pacific.
The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Indo-Pacific studies, global politics, and international relations.
About the Editors x About the Contributors xi Acknowledgements xv SECTION A The Indo-Pacific Construct 1 1 Introduction 3 Josukutty C. A. and Joyce Sabina Lobo 2 The Geo-Politics of the Indo-Pacific: Perceptions, Opportunities, and Challenges 16 Srikanth Kondapalli 3 The Indo-Pacific as the New Theatre of “Cold War” Politics: Challenges and Regional Responses 34 Shankari Sundararaman 4 From Quad 1.0 to Quad 2.0: The Persisting Discourse 49 S. Y. Surendra Kumar SECTION B China and the Quad Nation States 69 5 China in the Indo-Pacific: Perspectives and Interests 71 Huo Wenle 6 Russia in the Indo-Pacific through Multipolarity, Eurasian Integration, and the RFE 89 Joyce Sabina Lobo 7 The US in the Indo-Pacific: Interests and Strategy 103 Nanda Kishor M. S. 8 Japan’s Interests and Strategies in the Indo-Pacific 118 Anil Kumar P. 9 India’s Interests and Strategies in the Indo-Pacific 133 Uma Purushothaman 10 Indo-Pacific: Australian Middle Power Ambitions and Dilemmas 148 Madhusudhan. B SECTION C Key ASEAN Nation States and Vulnerable Neighbours of China 165 11 Malaysia’s Responses to the Indo-Pacific: Between Trepidations and Aspirations 167 Ivy Kwek 12 Singapore’s Strategy in the Indo-Pacific 182 Vignesh Ram 13 Indonesia in the Indo-Pacific: The Rise of a Strategic Geopolitical Power 194 Vignesh Ram 14 Vietnam in the Changing Strategic Environment of Indo-Pacific 207 Aswani R. S. 15 South Korea’s Approach to Indo-Pacific 221 Jojin V. John 16 Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific 236 Suresh K. 17 Conclusion 250 Joyce Sabina Lobo and Josukutty C. A. Index 259
Josukutty C A is Professor and Director in the School of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science at the University of Kerala, India. He was Fellow of the United States Institute on US Foreign Policy at the University of Florida in 2010 and awarded the Fulbright Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship in 2015. In 2019, he was selected for the “Academic Excellence Award” by the University of Kerala. His areas of interest and research include International Relations, India’s foreign policy, and electoral politics. He has published five books and many research articles in reputed peer-reviewed journals, which include Maritime Affairs, Glocalism: Journal of Culture Politics and Innovation, Indian Journal of Asian Affairs, Gandhi Marg, and International Journal of South Asian Studies. Joyce Sabina Lobo is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, St. Aloysius (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, India. She has formerly worked with Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (formerly called Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, IDSA), New Delhi, with the Eurasian Centre. She has completed her MA (Political Science) from the Centre for Political Studies; and MPhil and PhD (International Relations) from the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Currently her research interests are Russian cum Myanmar politics and foreign policy in which she has published, and at her hometown her research interests include study on the Beary Muslims in Dakshina Kannada.
