Gorbatko Anastasia

The Indo-Pacific Construct: Implications for Australia

ЮГО-ВОСТОЧНАЯ АЗИЯ: АКТУАЛЬНЫЕ ПРОБЛЕМЫ РАЗВИТИЯ, 2021, №4(53), 201-211

 
Annotation: The paper examines Australia’s perspective through the prism of the Indo-Pacific region as a US-centric geopolitical construct. Starting from a reveal of major reasons behind Canberra’s receptiveness of the Washington-driven Indo-Pacific narrative, the paper discusses Australia’s reaction to the revival of the idea of Indo-Pacific region by the Trump administration 2017 to finally turn to the factor of the PRC’s mega-strategy Belt and Road Initiative in shaping the Australian policy, including its Indo-Pacific dimension. The author argues that while in a short-term perspective Australia may benefit from participating in the development of the US-led initiatives with a pronounced anti-Chinese component, like the Indo-Pacific region with the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) as its main institutional platform, as well as the trilateral security alliance AUKUS, this policy course will be

Keywords: Australia, China, US, Indo-Pacific region, South Pacific region, Belt and Road Initiative