Comparison and Implications of Indo-Pacific Strategies: Focusing on the United States, Europe, Japan, India, and ASEAN

Choi Yoon Jung 

(yjchoi@sejong.org) 

Director of the Department of Diplomatic Strategy Studies, 

the Sejong Institute 

Executive Summary

■ Why Indo-Pacific Strategy?

○ Indo-Pacific has overtaken Asia-Pacific as the core of the international order that forms the most important geopolitical strategic concept of the 21st century.

○ Major countries such as the U.S., Europe, Japan, India, and ASEAN announced their Indo-Pacific strategies based on strategic considerations of △ preventing China's hegemonic expansion, △ establishing a stable order in the strategic center of the Indo-Pacific region, and △ joining the U.S.-centered alliance for power.

○ To summarize the major countries' strategies for the Indo-Pacific region, they have shared in their development such characteristics as △ the "quantitative expansion of strategies and agendas" of the Indo-Pacific strategies with perspectives and goals for each major country, a trend that started with the Indo-Pacific strategies of the U.S. and Japan, △ the "qualitative expansion of the agenda from security to prosperity" that pursues practical economic interests although it had originally begun due to security concerns over China, and △ the "expansion of membership" in the form of minilateral and multilateral cooperation rather than bilateral cooperation.

■ Indo-Pacific Strategies of Major Countries: Perspectives and Objectives

○ Among major countries with Indo-Pacific strategies, first of all, Japan is leading the Indo-Pacific strategy with the U.S. as the first country to have come up with the Indo-Pacific strategy under the banner of "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP).

○ The U.S. is strengthening its alliance with traditional Asian and European allies, frustrating China's hegemonic challenges, and accelerating the maintenance of U.S.-led international order.

○ ASEAN is adaptively responding to the U.S.-led regional strategy and emphasizing cooperation with substantive benefits.

○ India is keeping China in check, strengthening its cooperation with the U.S. as needed while maintaining strategic autonomy through its own diplomatic and trade strategies.

○ Although Europe's positions vary slightly from country to country, it emphasizes rules and/or standards by focusing on managing and maximizing economic interests rather than excluding China.

■ Indo-Pacific Strategies of Major Countries: Comparison by Theme

○ Indo-Pacific strategies, which were originally designed as security strategies, have expanded to involve a variety of actors and to address the agenda for prosperity to make up for the economic losses caused by China's decoupling attempts.

○ All countries are actively announcing their cooperation plans in digital, semiconductor, supply network, cybersecurity, infrastructure, and networks. Also, they are announcing their cooperation plans in traditional and non-traditional security agendas such as marine security, climate change, vaccines, and human rights.

■ Implications and Policy Recommendations

○ Major actors who announced their Indo-Pacific strategies, such as the U.S., Europe, India, and ASEAN, have been seeking cooperation with South Korea in order to act on the above major issues.

○ South Korea is responding with its New Southern Policy as a regional strategy, but cooperation is limited due to differences in vision and purpose.

○ Therefore, South Korea needs to establish a foreign policy strategy to inherit and develop its New Southern Policy, participate in the establishment of a new regional order with the U.S., and build a foundation for cooperation.

○ Henceforth, South Korea needs to △ establish a "Korean-style Indo-Pacific Regional Strategy" that maximizes South Korea's national interests by enhancing connectivity between South Korea's Indo-Pacific policies and other countries' Indo-Pacific strategies, △ promote a "matrix-type cooperation strategy by country and by agendas" focusing on South Korea's comparative advantages, and △ improve its relations with cooperative countries (especially Japan) and develop a cooperative apparatus.