Time for Indo-Pacific unity is now

We are living in an age of global disruption.

- Akihisa Nagashima

Supply chains are being reconfigured to avoid dependence on any one producer or country. Trade ties are being upended by high and unpredictable tariffs (and the threat of more). Longstanding alliances are being strained by doubts about partners' reliability.Even the most peaceable of neighbours, like those in North America, now eye each other with suspicion. Meanwhile, many of the structures that, however imperfect, delivered relative peace, stability, and prosperity for more than eight decades have been so enfeebled that they can hardly be counted on to function at all.

Of course, not all disruption is bad. As this year's Nobel laureate economists — Philippe Aghion, Peter Howitt, and Joel Mokyr — taught us, "creative destruction" is vital to economic dynamism and innovation. But a stable world order is built on creation, not destruction: the formation of strong multilateral institutions, robust alliances, resilient trade relationships, and durable shared norms, founded on the rule of law. The same is true of a stable regional order — a lesson the countries of the Indo-Pacific should take to heart.

As it stands, the Indo-Pacific lacks many of the institutions and alliances that are now teetering elsewhere. This gives regional leaders an opportunity. Like the allied countries after World War II, Indo-Pacific governments can, to borrow a phrase from former US secretary of state Dean Acheson, be "present at the creation" of a new economic, security, and diplomatic architecture capable of underpinning peace and stability in their vast region.