Griffith Asia Institute: “A new era in the Indo-Pacific? Strengthening the regional order in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine”

In February 2022 I once again participated in the Griffith Asia Institute’s annual Australia-Japan-India trilateral roundtable, this time on the theme of “Strengthening the Indo-Pacific regional order”. GAI subsequently published some of my reflections as part of their Griffith Asia Insights blog.

My post addressed the question of whether the Russian invasion of Ukraine truly ‘marks an epochal shift in the strategic environment, such that we are entering a “new era” of international politics’, or whether some of these sweeping claims ought to be treated with more caution.

In short, given the pronounced structural differences in the Indo-Pacific order when compared with Europe, it is unclear to me, at this stage, whether and how the war in Ukraine will fundamentally affect those underlying drivers that shape regional security in Asia. Nevertheless, participants at the dialogue offered a number of suggestions for how Australia, Japan, and India can act to strengthen the Indo-Pacific order, some of which I address in my piece.

Visit Griffith Asia Insights for the full article.