The Indo-Pacific has emerged as a region of great significance. China is cementing its strategic presence in the region with a push toward financing infrastructure, announcements of alternative security and development mechanisms, and security pacts, most recently, with the Solomon Islands. Meanwhile, the United States remains preoccupied with its various priorities including the war in Ukraine and a broader engagement with European security. As regional dynamics continue to evolve, actors like India and Australia find themselves facing common concerns, as well as opportunities that continue to converge. 

In this episode of Interpreting India, Ashley Townshend joins Deep Pal to discuss the recent developments in the Indo-Pacific. What would be the contours of an Indo-Pacific strategy that counteracts Chinese adventurism and influence in the region? How can India and Australia strengthen their bilateral relationship by harnessing their national defense industrial bases? And, how can the QUAD countries become significant contributors to public security in the region?

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Episode Contributors

Ashley Townshend is a senior fellow for Indo-Pacific security at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He is also the founding co-chair of the annual U.S.-Australia Indo-Pacific Deterrence Dialogue and a nonresident senior fellow at the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney. A leading Australian expert on Indo-Pacific strategic affairs, Ashley has written extensively on U.S. strategy in Asia, regional strategic competition with China, the U.S.-Australia alliance, and Australian foreign and defense policy. He is also the co-author of the monograph Averting Crisis: American Strategy, Military Spending and Collective Defence in the Indo-Pacific.  

Deep Pal is a visiting scholar in the Asia program at Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. His research and publications focus on the Indo-Pacific, Indian foreign policy in its immediate and greater neighborhood, and regional security of South Asia, with particular emphasis on China.

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Additional Reading

The U.S. Is Losing Its Military Edge in Asia, and China Knows It by Ashley Townshend

US Indo-Pacific Strategy, Alliances and Security Partnerships by Ashley Townshend

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