A Race of Global Hegemony in the Indo-Pacific Region

The present world order of the 21st century is being changed from a Unipolar World Order to a Multipolar World Order. These changes are going to be seen in world politics as well as in the economy too.

There will be a new political ground and a new plan with a political shift. Though changes in political shifts are not always irrelevant, they can be relevant too.

The playing field of politics for the USA has been changed. Two decades ago, it was only about the Middle East. Now this has been changed, the USA is focusing on Asia and South East Asia.

The Indo-Pacific strategic vision, QUAD, AUKUS, ANZUS, the emergence of a new Afghanistan, and a greater focus on China demonstrate that this region, also known as the Indo-Pacific region, will be a new playing field of world politics.

The Indo-Pacific region is being called a noise term. Because the next world order depends on this. To gain this world order, the USA and China are doing their best, but USA always ahead of.

The USA is not going to focus on Latin America, the African continent or the Middle East. They will use their peripheral system here to control this by using Brazil, Morocco, and Israel.

The Indo-Pacific region is much more important geopolitically than comparatively any other region in the present day. China has taken many initiatives in this region to just hold on to their hegemony, but to reduce this, the USA has taken Indo-Pacific strategy, rebalancing to Asia in 2011 by the Obama administration as well as the Indo-Pacific Strategy Vision by Trump.

President Joe Biden is also following the same vision.

China’s One Belt, One Road initiative is a great asset for China to expand its hegemonic influence over the Indo-Pacific region. Through this initiative, China wants to connect its mainland with other countries. But to counter this, the USA has taken another project called "Build Back a Better World" (B3W).

In order to ensure that the United States, Japan, and Australia may freely travel the Indian and Pacific seas and that their commercial ships are secure, the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) has been developed as a strategy.

The United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, and India are all members of QUAD, as well as the Indo-Pacific Strategy. It is a substitute for China's One Belt, One Road (OBOR), which aims to prevent its entry into this area.

Some South Asian countries are in a dilemma over which side they will go for. Because China and the US are both important to them. In this situation, they have nothing to do without maintaining a proper balance.

The USA has taken the initiative of a Trilateral Security Pact with the UK and Australia just to confront China. which is known as AUKUS. This pact is based on nuclear submarines, which might not be a good sign for South and Southeast Asia.

Joe Biden has bolstered Australia, which was previously silent in international politics. And this is only because of a pledge by the US to Australia about nuclear submarines.

The US wants to reduce the power of China in the South China Sea and the Indo-Pacific region. They want to make sure commercial ships safe in the South China Sea and Indian Ocean.

Using Australia, they want to make an impact on China. Because of this, Australia will be provided security by nuclear submarines and prosperity too. But the UK has very little interest on this event.

Using nuclear power is the main difference between ANZUS and AUKUS. No countries from Asia were included into this pact.

It is possible to predict that World Politics or World Order is dependent on this region. On the one hand, the US is trying to sustain its hegemon; on the other hand, China is emerging.

Though china has no possibility because of their internal conflict.

But personal interest of countries can be changed. Australia is taking the side of US and UK, only because of getting Nuclear Submarine. If china comes up to them with more opportunity they might change their preference from US to China. France is also on this list.

All this equation of world politics and the next world order depends especially on the control of only one region, which is the Indo-Pacific region. This region can change the global hegemon.

There is no possibility for China to take the control of Indo-Pacific region. Because China has much more instability than any other country in the world. And the internal conflict in China is not going to be eliminated soon. Many countries around the world consider Chinese ideology to be a threat.

Every year, trade via this region accounts for one-third of global GDP. US FDI has poured $900 billion into the region. In addition, three million people are employed in the region nationwide. This region will be responsible for around 66 percent of the global economic growth during the next five years. The region's economy will be the most robust in the world in thirty years.


Imran Hosen is a student of Department of International
Relations, Dhaka University.