Chinese Perspectives of the Indo-Pacific Concept and Major Power Relations / HOO Tiang Boon

Chinese Perspectives of the Indo-Pacific Concept and Major Power Relations
HOO Tiang Boon, RSIS, Singapore

In recent years there have been growing attention on, and increasing usage of, the term “Indo-Pacific” to characterize the political geography of the Asia-Pacific region. While the concept itself is not new and has multiple origins, it gained new levels of prominence when Washington began to evoke the parlance in its policy documents and rhetoric from around 2017. American employment of the term as well as its subsequent international popularization have since garnered the attention of the Chinese scholarly and policy community. This talk will explore Chinese perspectives regarding the notion of the Indo-Pacific. While the dominant strands in this debate have been an ambivalent blend of concern and skepticism, there are also more nuanced perspectives. This talk will also discuss possible Chinese responses to the evolving Indo-Pacific geopolitical dynamic, as well as the implications of these developments on the regional order.

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Session 4 / Geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific : The Intersecting Interests of Other Major Powers
Chair : Dr. Claire, Thị Liên TRẦN, IRASEC/Univ de Paris

These last 15 years, other great powers have redefined their strategy in the region, replacing the concept of Asia-Pacific to the one of Indo-Pacific. Indeed, the region involves the intersecting interests of two other major powers - Japan and the United States - and significant middle players – Australia and South Korea as well as Western players – the European Union and Russia. The session intends to highlight their perspectives on the Indo-Pacific definition, with the aim to manage the China’s rise in the regional order. How did these great powers, which have dominated the Asia-Pacific era, reposition themselves in this new Indo-Pacific architecture. How do they manage their influencing diplomacy and partnership building, as well as their strategical and security priorities ? Will the region’s future be dominated by competition or develop in a more cooperative way in this growing economic and strategic super-region connecting two oceans ?

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“Asia’s Post-Pandemic Order and Integration : Outlook of ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific at Crossroads” is an international conference organized by The Research Institute on Contemporary Southeast Asia (IRASEC-CNRS) with the ASEAN Studies Center (Chulalongkorn University) in Bangkok, and the ASEAN-India Centre (AIC), RIS in New Delhi.
8-9 July 2021 - Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok