Context: In a guidance report that outlined for the first time President Joe Biden’s national security strategy, the Biden administration has pledged to a robust military presence in the Indo-Pacific as well as in Europe, asserting deepest connection with the two globally significant regions. In this episode we will discuss and analyse US strategy vis a vis Indo-Pacific and how it affects India and its interests in the region.
Key Points

• The paper, titled “Interim National Security Strategic Guidance”, stated the Biden administration’s aim to “deepen” ties with India as a part of the strategy. 
• The report portrayed an “increasingly assertive” China and “destabilising” Russia as main adversaries confronting the US, but it clearly held the former as the more consequential of the two. 
• China is “the only competitor potentially capable of combining its economic, diplomatic, military and technological power to mount a sustained challenge to a stable and open international system”.
• The US pivot to Asia — in response to and as an acknowledgement of China as a growing threat — started under Barack Obama, and then gathered steam on Donald Trump’s watch with the renaming of the US military’s Pacific Command as the Indo-Pacific Command.
• It has been taken to a different level by the Biden administration, accorded the same significance as Europe, which has dominated US diplomatic and military thinking and spending for more than a century now, starting with World War I.
• “The interim guidance lays out the global landscape as the Biden administration sees it, explains the priorities of our foreign policy — and specifically how we will renew America’s strength to meet the challenges and seize the opportunities of our time.”

Significance of the Indo Pacific Region

• It is a very rich region in terms of natural resources (fisheries, oil, gas) as well as mineral resources.
• About 3.5 trillion dollars international trade flows through the South China Sea.
• Trade of some of the major economies like China, Japan, Korea or the west coast of the United States goes through the South China Sea.
• About 50% of India’s trade is conducted through the South China Sea.

The term ‘Indo-Pacific’ is interpreted differently by different stakeholders.

• India considers the region as an inclusive, open, integrated and balanced space. India continuously emphasises on strategic inter-connections, common challenges and opportunities between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific.
• The U.S. considers it to be a free and open Indo-Pacific, highlighting the importance of rules or norms of conduct in the region, thus trying to contain the role of China in the region.
• The ASEAN countries look at Indo-Pacific as a consociational model, thus bringing in China not only for the sake of giving it some stakeholdership but looking for ways to cooperate with it in the region.

India’s Perspective of Indo-Pacific

• A lot of India’s special partners, the US, Australia, Japan and Indonesia actually look at Indo-Pacific as Asia Pacific plus India. They try to embed India into the strategic dynamic of Asia Pacific.
• They want India’s presence in the South China Sea, East China Sea, basically to counter China.
• India however, seeks to cooperate for an architecture for peace and security in the region. The common prosperity and security require the countries to evolve, through dialogue, a common rules-based order for the region.
• For India, Indo-Pacific stands for a free, open, inclusive region. It includes all nations in the geography and also others who have a stake in it. In its geographical dimension, India considers the area from the shores of Africa to the shores of America.
• India supports rule-based, open, balanced and stable trade environment in the Indo-Pacific Region, which lifts up all nations on the tide of trade and investment. This is the same as what the country expects from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).
• Unlike China, India seeks a unified ASEAN, not a divided one. China tries to play off some ASEAN members against others, thereby in a way executing ‘divide and rule’ conquest strategy.
• India does not comply with the US version of Indo-Pacific, that seeks to contain Chinese dominance. India is rather looking for the ways through which it can work together with China.
• India is looking for democratising the region.
• Earlier, the region used to be almost like an American lake. However, there exists a fear that the region will become Chinese lake now. Scarborough Shoal dispute is an example here.
• India doesn't want hegemony of any player in the region. India is working in trilaterals such as India-Australia-France, India-Australia-Indonesia to ensure that China does not dominate in the region.

Road Ahead

• The Indo-Pacific region is highly heterogeneous in terms of economic size and level of development, with significant differences in security establishments and resources. India has been an active participant in mechanisms like the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), the East Asia Summit, Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers Meeting Plus. All  these  engagements  portray  India’s  increasing  involvement  in  the Indo-Pacific. Maintaining the delicate balance between the interests of all stakeholders will be a key challenge. Thus, India needs to carefully design its Indo-Pacific policy while keeping its long-term strategic and economic interests in mind.