ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book makes clear that the rise of China and India are the most important, if often implicit, drivers of the emergence of the Indo-Pacific construct. India is a particularly important part of the American conceptualisation of the Indo-Pacific, given that it is the state most likely to have the potential to match China's economic growth and could therefore serve as a democratic counterweight. In the Indian Ocean region, much effort is being placed on revamping the existing organisations for regional cooperation and maritime diplomacy, the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS), by India and Australia and increasingly Indonesia. China and India also collaborate on smaller-scale anti-piracy and antiterrorism naval exercises. The Indo-Pacific concept has evolved from being a discursive construct debated by analysts and occasionally mentioned in speeches by policy makers.