Indo-Pacific Region is combination of Asia Pacific Region (APR) and Indian Ocean Region (IOR) connected by busy straits of Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok. The region encompasses almost half of the world population, a third of the top twenty economies, world GDP and exports. It is home to an enormously populous and diverse mix of ethnicities, cultures, political systems, religions and economies. As a confluence of two busy oceans, the region is the maritime highway of the world that combines emerging markets and resources of Asia and Africa with rest of the world.
The Indo Pacific Region is the canvas of global power shift. While the US seeks to maintain a status quo in the world order and international system, China, on the other hand, asserts for recognition as a major power and strives to carve out its own sphere of influence. Russia, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, and the ASEAN countries have become important stakeholders in the balance of power in the Indo Pacific Region and pursue their core objectives through dynamic balancing of interests.
Considering the importance of this region, the United Service Institution of India (USI) organised a seminar on 02-03 November 2017 at New Delhi on the theme of, "From Contest to Cooperation: A Vision for Shared Prosperity in the Indo-Pacific Region". The seminar brought together varying perspectives on security challenges, mapping of economic potential and proposing architectures for collective security and economic integration.
This book is based on the papers presented by various speakers during the seminar.
Maj Gen Rajiv Narayanan, AVSM, VSM (Retd) was commissioned 1978 in the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army and retired after over 37 years of distinguished service in 2016. An Alumni of DSSC Wellington and DSCSC Mirpur, Dhaka; he is an expert in mechanized and mountain warfare and has seen service along India's both Western and Northern Borders. He has had the opportunity to serve as the Defence Attaché in the Embassy of India Dushanbe, Tajikistan during the turbulent period post 9/11 from Oct 2003 to Mar 2007. His areas of interest include China, South and Central Asia, Indo -Pacific Region, and Future World Order & Regional Multilateralism. He has a large number of articles and papers published in Indian Journals and magazines (including web editions).
Group Captain Sharad Tewari, VM (Retd) is a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Strategic Studies and Simulation (CS3) at the USI. He is an alumnus of Flying Instructors' School, Defence Services Staff College and College of Defence Management. He has been a former Director (Net Assessment) at HQ Integrated Defence Staff and specialises in Net Assessment and Scenario Building. He has conducted a number of seminars and workshops on Net Assessment and scenario building and undertaken a number of Net Assessment studies. He has been part of the research team for two National Security Studies, on China and South Asia respectively. He has been a guest speaker at a number of universities and seminars.
