Through field research, roundtables, document analysis, and interviews with hundreds of Indo-Pacific experts and policy-makers, an evolving picture has emerged of a region fundamentally changed by China’s economic, political and military expansion, the response to COVID-19, geoeconomic shifts, and more.
In the midst of this dynamic strategic environment, more countries are actively formulating specific policies for the Indo-Pacific, sometimes without fully examining how these may be perceived by others.
Understanding convergences and divergences in perception is key for making partnerships more effective. It allows countries to cooperate, collaborate and coordinate where there are shared objectives, while mitigating or managing differences.
Indo-Pacific strategies, perceptions and partnerships describes these evolving perceptions of strategic shifts in the Indo-Pacific, in order to identify possible pathways towards deeper, more effective partnerships between like-minded countries.
The report is supported by six field research reports – one each from the United States, United Kingdom, France, India, the Kingdom of Tonga, and Japan. The field research reports include essays by local experts, often from the in-country partner think tanks that facilitated the research: the East-West Center in Washington D.C., Institut français des relations internationales (Ifri) in Paris, Gateway House in Mumbai, the Royal Oceania Institute in Nuku’alofa, and the Indo-Pacific Studies Group in Tokyo.
The project also includes six podcasts, recorded in conjunction with the locally-held roundtables, in which experts from the United States, United Kingdom, France, India, the Kingdom of Tonga, and Japan talk about where they see the region heading in the next few years.
Combined, these elements reveal how quickly and dramatically the Indo-Pacific is changing, and the hopes and fears for the future of some of the key players involved.
Participants
Welcome and opening remarks: Dr Champa Patel, Director, Asia-Pacific Programme, Chatham House
Lord Fakafanua, Chairman, Royal Oceania Institute
Dr Satu Limaye, Vice President & Director, East-West Center
Celine Pajon, Research Fellow, Head of Japan Research, Center for Asian Studies, French Institute of International Relations (Ifri)
Sameer Patil, Fellow, International Studies Security Programme, Gateway House
Hiroki Sekine, Visiting Fellow, Chatham House
Chair: Cleo Paskal, Associate Fellow, Chatham House
