The book offers vivid analysis of new geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific in terms of big power rivalry between US-China and country wise perspectives situating largely within the late 2000s and culminates with developments of the COVID 19 period. The great power shift marked by the rise of China and the relative decline of the US poses a serious challenge to the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region and the world order in general. Ironically the play of realism in the region is stymied by broad partnerships of key countries that utilize the liberal approaches of cooperation with both rivals— the USA and China. The book captures the mosaic of stakeholders—rivals the US and China along with Russia; other QUAD members Australia, India, and Japan; key ASEAN members, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam; vulnerable states in East Asia viz., Taiwan and South Korea; and groupings including the ASEAN and QUAD— that constitutes the new world politics of the Indo-pacific.
The volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of Indo-Pacific studies, global politics and international relations.
The book offers vivid analysis of new geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific in terms of big power rivalry between US-China and country wise perspectives situating largely within the late 2000s and culminates with developments of the COVID 19 period.
About the Editors x About the Contributors xi Acknowledgements xv
SECTION A The Indo-Pacific Construct 1 1 Introduction 3 Josukutty C. A. and
Joyce Sabina Lobo 2 The Geo-Politics of the Indo-Pacific: Perceptions,
Opportunities, and Challenges 16 Srikanth Kondapalli 3 The Indo-Pacific as
the New Theatre of Cold War Politics: Challenges and Regional Responses 34
Shankari Sundararaman 4 From Quad 1.0 to Quad 2.0: The Persisting Discourse
49 S. Y. Surendra Kumar SECTION B China and the Quad Nation States 69 5 China
in the Indo-Pacific: Perspectives and Interests 71 Huo Wenle 6 Russia in the
Indo-Pacific through Multipolarity, Eurasian Integration, and the RFE 89
Joyce Sabina Lobo 7 The US in the Indo-Pacific: Interests and Strategy 103
Nanda Kishor M. S. 8 Japans Interests and Strategies in the Indo-Pacific 118
Anil Kumar P. 9 Indias Interests and Strategies in the Indo-Pacific 133 Uma
Purushothaman 10 Indo-Pacific: Australian Middle Power Ambitions and Dilemmas
148 Madhusudhan. B SECTION C Key ASEAN Nation States and Vulnerable
Neighbours of China 165 11 Malaysias Responses to the Indo-Pacific: Between
Trepidations and Aspirations 167 Ivy Kwek 12 Singapores Strategy in the
Indo-Pacific 182 Vignesh Ram 13 Indonesia in the Indo-Pacific: The Rise of a
Strategic Geopolitical Power 194 Vignesh Ram 14 Vietnam in the Changing
Strategic Environment of Indo-Pacific 207 Aswani R. S. 15 South Koreas
Approach to Indo-Pacific 221 Jojin V. John 16 Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific 236
Suresh K. 17 Conclusion 250 Joyce Sabina Lobo and Josukutty C. A. Index 259
Josukutty C A is Professor and Director in the School of Social Sciences, Department of Political Science at the University of Kerala, India. He was Fellow of the United States Institute on US Foreign Policy at the University of Florida in 2010 and awarded the Fulbright Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship in 2015. In 2019, he was selected for the Academic Excellence Award by the University of Kerala. His areas of interest and research include International Relations, Indias foreign policy, and electoral politics. He has published five books and many research articles in reputed peer-reviewed journals, which include Maritime Affairs, Glocalism: Journal of Culture Politics and Innovation, Indian Journal of Asian Affairs, Gandhi Marg, and International Journal of South Asian Studies.
Joyce Sabina Lobo is Assistant Professor at the Department of Political Science, St. Aloysius (Deemed to be University), Mangaluru, India. She has formerly worked with Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (formerly called Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, IDSA), New Delhi, with the Eurasian Centre. She has completed her MA (Political Science) from the Centre for Political Studies; and MPhil and PhD (International Relations) from the Centre for Russian and Central Asian Studies, JNU, New Delhi. Currently her research interests are Russian cum Myanmar politics and foreign policy in which she has published, and at her hometown her research interests include study on the Beary Muslims in Dakshina Kannada.
