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How Indian is the Indo-Pacific?

25 Mar 2020
By K.V. Kesavan, Professor Purnendra Jain and Dr Takuya Shimodaira

Video interviews with speakers at the 2nd AIIA Indo-Pacific Research Forum, held in Tokyo in February 2020.

How does India perceive its role within the Indo-Pacific, particularly given the reestablishment of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States, India’s reinvigorated “Act East” policy, and the American push for a bolstered Indian presence in the region? What are the ramifications for a more focused Indian presence, in this region, and particularly given India’s legacies of non-alignment and strategic autonomy, is this a role the country actively seeks to play? How do other actors in the Indo-Pacific, notably Australia and Japan, view India’s presence? Speakers on India at the 2nd AIIA Indo-Pacific Rasearch Forum on February addressed such questions questions. Here are some of their remarks.

K.V. Kesavan is a distinguished fellow at the Observer Research Foundation

Purnendra Jain is an adjunct professor at the University of Adelaide

Dr Takuya Shimodaira is a fellow at Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies.