Indo-Pacific has been evolving as the new epicenter of global prominence in the contemporary trend, mainly due to rising competition in trade and transit which are the lynchpin of the economy.

The global superpower U.S is constantly hedging to gain strategic clout preferable against the Red nations (Communist blocs – Russia, China, and North Korea). These nations commonly have a single rival despite them not constituting a clique.

Indo-Pacific and U.S

In the pages of modern history, the U.S was forced to enter into the political domain of the Indo-Pacific during the Second World War, and that was followed by the Cold war with U.S.S.R which is now adjoined by Russia, China, and North Korea.

And recently on 30 Sep 2022, the U.S entered into a partnership agreement with the Pacific island nations assuring increasing its presence in the region amid growing concern about China’s growing influence.

The agreement promotes $ 810 million in financial support and it would recognize Niue and Cook Islands as sovereign states.

U.S fading away from Ukraine

In the present time, the call from Ukraine had just kept U.S busy for a while to contain Russia, eventually, Ukraine coped with forces against Russia forcing the latter to be humiliated on the global platform.

The U.S never had a humane agenda to earn the victory for Ukraine, which is evident from its clever silence after the Crimean annexation in 2014, U.S was reluctant to provide NATO membership to Ukraine and continued trading oil and gas from Russia only until the recent invasion.

However, after Russia desperately deterred nuclear deployment and nestled into scheming plan of referendum to engulf Ukraine.

The U.S felt conceited to see the political defeat of its rivalry and scantly assured Ukraine by derecognizing Russian occupations.

Indo-Pacific in contemporary perspective of U.S

Apart from reinvigorating QUAD, and initiating new groups like AUKUS and IPEF, the U.S has strategized diploma and economic means to counter its adversaries.

Competing China

Indo-Pacific: the unspoken treasure of U.S — Image Source – mizzima

After surmounting Russia, the U.S has been parallelly squabbling with China, mainly to:-

Gain grounds in the Indo-Pacific region, for which it targets BRI, and
Secure prominence in the semiconductor chip industry, for which it is defending Taiwan.

The U.S had devised several game plans to collectively achieve the above two purposes, from the pivot to Asia policy of Barak Obama in 2010 to the high-profile visits supervised by Joe Biden immediately followed by his Presidential victory in Feb 2021, these are:-

1. S Secretary of State – Wendy Sherman:-

Visited Japan, South Korea, Mongolia, and China.

And conveyed China to abide by “Rules-based international order”.

1. Defence Secretary – Lloyd Austin:-

Visited Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines.

And rejected China’s claims in the region (particularly against India) and asserted the military presence of the U.S for all possible needs and strengthened the military relationship with the former nations.

1. Secretary of State – Anthony Blinken:-

Visited India and Kuwait.

And revived the convergence of interests on areas of mutual focus.

And to protect Taiwan, the U.S follows 1st island concept:

The island marked in red dots (Japan, South Korea, Taiwan Philippines) are the allies of U.S.

The U.S had established:-

Taiwan relations act – 1979:- Under which the U.S provides (military) support to Taiwan in case of any Chinese aggression. And also established the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) which is a U.S embassy in disguise.
1982 Communique:- Asserted to supply arms to Taiwan, for its military purpose.

Competing North Korea

U.S has imposed several sanctions on North Korea including CAASTA. And further strengthened ties with the neighboring nations of Japan and South Korea.

A recent development

U.S, South Korea, and Japan held trilateral anti-submarine drills (30 Sep 2022) in the international waters of the Korean peninsula amid a fulminating blaze from North Korea.

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