ABSTRACT
Previous chapters argued that the Indo-Pacific’s post-Cold War order cannot easily accommodate China’s strategic ambitions. Chapter 7 commences the final part of the book by moving the discussion towards practical relevance and the question of implementation. The traditional order underpinning Pax Americana in Asia has irrevocably run its course. This chapter introduces the first of the two order-building projects to enact a new regional equilibrium: constrainment. Unlike America’s Cold War strategy of containment, highly inadequate for the complexities of the early 21st century, constrainment does not seek to isolate China. Instead, while accepting China’s legitimate right to grow and prosper, constrainment is a material check on Beijing’s strategic overreach. It is a strategy of anti-hegemony that seeks to protect the legitimate security interests of regional states in order to prevent conflict and even arms-racing. At the time of writing, the quadrilateral security dialogue between the US, Japan, Australia, and India, or Quad, seems the most promising mechanism. But even if the Quad were to disintegrate, a similar quasi-alliance would emerge. The chapter closes with several concrete policy recommendations.
