The Indo-Pacific strategic concepts promulgated by Japan (reaffirmed in 2016), the US (2017), Australia (2017), India (2018), Germany (2020), the Netherlands (2020), the EU (2021), France (reaffirmed in 2021), the UK (2021) and others demonstrate the region’s geostrategic significance. While the various concepts differ significantly in scope, essence and strategy, they share one commonality: the idea of connected oceans in which Southeast Asian nations sit at the heart and form the epicentre of great-power competition that has come to define the Indo-Pacific. The region has become a ‘crowded space’ as the long-term and newer actors increase various engagement initiatives.
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