Introduction

As the Indo-Pacific is a concept established largely through strategies of different states, it is important to note that the geographic limitations vary depending on where the given strategy originated from. The Indo-Pacific of the past, before the colonial race of the 19th century, was largely bipolar, by which people mean there existed two centres of power, located in the cyclical civilisations of India and China. Most of the flows of trade, people and knowledge revolved around those civilisations in the Indo-Pacific connected with less populous sub-regions. This period is characterised by a lack of large-scale rivalry. Multiple conflicts in the Indo-Pacific, from the partition of India through the Korean war to the Indochina wars meant that most of the connections that existed before became disrupted by political struggles. The recurring theme of a “free and open Indo-Pacific” that appears in the strategies of the United States, Japan, India and Australia is largely about trade, connectivity and regional security.