India at the crossroads: A strategic opportunity amid uncertainty

While the global media headlines are dominated by the Ukraine war and the tension in Gaza, the Indo-Pacific is the gravitational centre of global geopolitics today. In the past few months, a range of developments have raised questions about peace and stability in this region and underscores how quickly tensions can rise across the region.

- ANINDITA MAHAPATRA

One such example is the Australian complaint about peace being disrupted by Chinese surveillance and research vessels getting detected in the Tasman Sea. An even clearer one are water-cannoning and collision incidents born from the Philippines-China standoffs near Second Thomas Shoal. More recently, tension is high between China and Japan over the issue of Taiwan.

Significantly, the recent tensions in Southeast and East Asia arose closely after the US President's visit to Malaysia, Japan and South Korea. It surely indicated the renewed interest of Washington in Indo-Pacific affairs. The summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Trump in Sout Korea and a compromise agreement between the two leaders on the tariff issue was welcomed by many countries. But Trump avoided his participation in East Asia summit in Malaysia and the APEC summit in South Korea indicating limited interest of Trump in the Indo-Pacific affairs. On the other hand, US defense secretary during his meeting with the regional leaders did not refrain from alerting the regional countries about the Chinese threat to the region.