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E-book Geopolitics by Other Means : The Indo-Pacific Reality

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Penilaian

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In 2007, in a speech before the Indian Parliament, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe brought back to light an ancient Asian geographical vision: the so-called “confluence of the two seas”. It referred to the idea of linking the Pacific with the Indian Ocean, as Japanese policymakers conceived the concept at the time. That would later become the “Indo-Pacific region”, replac-ing the “Asia-Pacific” as a geopolitical concept, thus incorporat-ing countries and countries’ policies deep inside but also out-side the geographical boundaries of the Asia-Pacific. This is also the reason why Europe – or better – some individual European countries such as France and the UK, are currently developing and adopting policies and strategies in the name of the “Indo-Pacific”. It goes hand in hand with the increased presence of British and French navy vessels in Asian territorial waters. The “Indo-Pacific” concept turned into a more coherent con-struct when it was first discussed and announced – at the gov-ernmental level – in the 2013 Australian Defence White Paper. Hence, since 2013, the geopolitical concept of “Indo-Pacific” has begun to be conceived as a means to connect India to the Pacific Ocean, e.g. by establishing closer political and security relations between New Delhi and the other key East Asian state actors minus China.The concept also attracted interest within the administra-tion of former US President Barack Obama, but it did not immediately push Washington to shift its strategic engage-ment in the region from the “Pivot to Asia” announced in 2011 to a full-fledged “Indo-Pacific” strategy. However, after Donald Trump’s first trip to Asia in November 2017, the Indo-Pacific started to take shape as the geopolitical and concep-tual background of US security and strategic involvement in Asia. The former “Asia-Pacific” became the “Indo-Pacific” for Washington’s defence and security policy planners.Even if much needs to be decided and defined as far as fur-ther strategic, economic, and trade cooperation between the US, Japan, Australia, and India is concerned in the Indo-Pacific region, the US under Trump is putting significant political cap-ital and resources into expanding security relations with these major actors of the Indo-Pacific region.Needless to say, the Indo-Pacific concept is also gaining trac-tion because of China’s increasing foreign and security policy assertiveness (in the region and beyond). Currently, the outliers – as far as the expansion of security and defence ties are con-cerned – are Japan and India, also motivated by the expansive nature of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Joint Japanese-Indian concerns are indeed directly related to the kind of pol-icies and strategies China pursues with countries collaborating with Beijing on BRI projects in Asia, Central Asia, Africa, and Europe. Neither Japan nor India are part of the BRI, and even if Japan no longer categorically excludes collaborating with China on BRI infrastructure and development-related projects, the prospects of Japanese contributions to China-driven BRI continue to remain very bleak. Tokyo links its contributions to a series of preconditions, which many of the BRI projects simply do not meet.

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Ketersediaan

Informasi Detail

Judul Seri

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No. Panggil

327 BER g

Penerbit

Italy : Ledizioni - LediPublishing., 2019

Deskripsi Fisik

140 hlm

Bahasa

English

ISBN/ISSN

9788867059294

Klasifikasi

327

Tipe Isi

text

Tipe Media

computer

Tipe Pembawa

online resource

Edisi

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Subjek

International Relations

Info Detail Spesifik

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Pernyataan Tanggungjawab

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Versi lain/terkait

Lampiran Berkas

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