THE FOUNDATIONS OF INDO-US SECURITY COOPERATION IN THE INDO-PACIFIC

The Indo-Pacific has emerged as a composite geopolitical region at the core of the international system, ever at the throes of crisis. It is a new mental map that transcends the conceptual divisions between the 'Asia-Pacific' and the 'Indian Ocean' regions, created ever since the Indian Ocean developed as a hub for economic exploration and relentless global commercial activity.

- Souradeep Sen

Reflecting the growing economic and strategic interdependence of states along the Asian littoral, the narrative of the Indo-Pacific has concomitantly witnessed an increase in great power competition and regional geopolitical rivalry. The region comprises six nuclear weapon states, five critical chokepoints, four major powers, three seriously troubled countries, five disputed land and maritime borders, two hotly contested water bodies and a plethora of sub-regional asymmetric conflicts (Karnad, 2015: 89).

The United States has moved a long way from its erstwhile superficiality vis-àvis the Indo-Pacific to see the entire Indian Ocean as a part thereof. This squares well with not only the growing geostrategic import of the western Indian Ocean, but also India's Indo-Pacific Vision (2018), whereby both states have envisaged a free, open, connected, prosperous, resilient, and secure Indo-Pacific region that embraces all in common pursuit of freedom, progress and development (U.S. Department of State, 2024; Ministry of Defence, Government of India Press Release, 2022).

The only constant challenge to this inclusive vision, however, has been posed by an increasingly irredentist China. Since Xi Jinping's 'Chinese Dream', the country has become the chief rule-breaker in the Indo-Pacific. From the construction of artificial islands in contested waters to the weaponisation of trade and the practise of maritime surveillance against global detractors, not least, the absolute disregard for the territorial integrity of Asia-Pacific states, peace has been elusive in the Indo-Pacific. Entrenched challenges, both to the Indo-Pacific and the liberal international order, have impelled the strategic partnership between India and the US, the foundations of which comprise an admixture of steadily convergent maritime geopolitical perspectives and interests.