Murray Hunter
The Indo-Pacific is generally regarded as a US construct covering the Indian Ocean from the African Coast, the western and central Pacific Ocean, to the seas and straits connecting the two oceans. As such, the Indo-Pacific includes nations such as Korea and Japan, down to Australia, south-east Asia, India, Pakistan, and the Persian and Arabian Gulfs. China features in the centre of the Indo-Pacific, and as such the Indo-Pacific paradigm is used as a template to view contested primacy. Former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe’s speech in 2007, around the time when the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) began. The term became commonly used during the Trump 1.0 presidency.
US foreign and defence policy within the Indo-Pacific has been based upon the perception of US primacy within the region, in tandem with its allies including Japan, South Korea, and Australia. It’s only in this generation that US primacy is challenged by the rise of China into the South China Sea. This began in 2013, when the Tianjing dredger was sent to Cuarteron Reef to reclaim land to build a military base. A number have been built since around the Spratly Islands, and surrounding reefs, reflecting the Nine-Dash-Line protruding as far south as the coast of northern Borneo, that is seen by China as within their sphere of influence.
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