IAN HALL |

In the wonderfully-titled ‘From Hollywood to Bollywood’, Andrew Phillips questions the utility of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ concept. He thinks it’s less than the sum of its parts. Australian strategists, he argues, need to acknowledge the existence of two very different regional security orders, one Asia-Pacific and one South Asian. The first has ‘architecture’, provided by the US-centred ‘hub-and-spokes’ alliance system; the second doesn’t, as its main player, India, favours ‘non-alignment’ over alliances and multilateral institutions. Australians need to recognise those differences, Phillips asserts, if they’re to craft the right approach to what he calls the ‘Indo/Pacific’.

Phillips recognises that there’s now far more economic, diplomatic and security-focused interaction between East and South Asia than there was 25 years ago. These extend far beyond the oft-mentioned Sea Lines of Communication that run from the Arabian Gulf to Pacific. Trade and investment flows between the two regions are growing fast. China’s westward push promises even deeper economic integration, as its ‘One Belt, One Road’ initiative builds road and rail networks into Central Asia, and its maritime ‘Silk Road’ runs the South China Sea and Indian Ocean. East and South Asian states are also forging wide-ranging strategic partnerships that involve more than just promises to boost trade and investment, but also commitments to more frequent political discussions, upgraded defence ties, intelligence-sharing, technology transfer and co-development, regular strategic dialogues, and so on.

Yet Phillips contends that these intensifying diplomatic, economic and military ties across the Indo-Pacific haven’t changed the essential structures of its two regional security orders, arguing that new alliances and new or significantly strengthened security-focused multilateral institutions, especially in South Asia, haven’t emerged.

This argument doesn’t quite convince, I think, for three reasons.

To read the full “Re-hyphenating the Indo-Pacific” article by Griffith Asia Institute and Centre for Governance and Public Policy Professor, Ian Hall, please visit The Strategist.