Security issues and strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific / Pradeep CHAUHAN

Asia’s Post-Pandemic Order and Integration : Outlook of ASEAN and the Indo-Pacific at Crossroads

Security issues and strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific
Vice Admiral Pradeep CHAUHAN, Director-General of the National Maritime Foundation (NMF), New Delhi

The “Indo-Pacific” has been gaining new geopolitical construct over the last few years. There is also a growing consensus in understanding the geographical scope and economic and strategic approaches towards Indo-Pacific. The Indo-Pacific obtained renewed vibrancy when ASEAN, in June 2019, and India, in November 2019, came out with their respective Indo-Pacific visions, namely, the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP), and, the Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), respectively. Given above, this presentation will discuss unfolding Indo-Pacific architecture, underscoring the growing regional and extra-regional convergence evident in its conceptual and geographic construct as a predominantly, but not exclusively, maritime space. Several countries and regions have introduced their respective Indo-Pacific visions including India. For India, the Indo-Pacific is not a “strategy” but a “strategic geography” — a free, open, and inclusive region, founded upon a consensually derived, cooperative, and collaborative, rules-based order, marked by comity amongst all stakeholders that operate within it. This presentation aims to review the perspectives of Indo-Pacific that are shared by different countries and discuss the areas of cooperation. Further, the presentation will discuss the central role of ASEAN-led fora in attaining the necessary conditions of stability in Indo-Pacific region.

 

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Session 7 / Security Issues and Strategic Challenges in the Indo-Pacific
Chair : Mrs. Gwen ROBINSON (Chulalongkorn University/Nikkei)

Since its creation, the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) has contributed to the maintenance of peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region. As Asia is becoming the global center of economic gravity, any conflict in the Indo-Pacific region involving a major power would have a global impact. Does a shared Indo-Pacific geographical understanding can contribute to security partnerships and stability and how can regional powers manage the strategic tensions arising across this wide area ? This session deals with maritime security, but also cybersecurity, as well the sensitive management of water security issues in the Mekong by six countries. At least, the Rohingya refugee crisis in Myanmar since 2015 and the recent Coup constitute a major challenge to take up. Could the Indo-pacific cooperation play a significant role to manage present and future crisis ?

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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