The international arena has been swaddled up by anarchic politics, bolstered by the lust for power, forever. The states, on an international level, adopt Machiavellian power grab tactics in order to defend their national interests. Alfred T.Mahan was very right to prescribe this fatal power competition among states by tuning the international rivalry on the sea waters. The advent of the 21st century, undoubtedly, has driven the competition among the states to the non-conventional patches, yet the utter significance of the traditional warfare, significantly in terms of Indo-Pacific rivalry could not be wholly denied. In this regard, the Indo-Pacific area has long been the bedrock for the Maritime powers to materialize their national agendas in the political, economic, and strategic domains. The inclusive naval forces of Asia along with the engagement of the other global sea powers have altogether militarized the region and alarmed the new spell of limited war.
The political fire of the Indo-Pacific has been fueled by the hegemonic Bloc politics in the region that is further retargeted by the solipsistic mobilization of sea weapons. As the international order has been tilted towards the Bi-Polar political mode, so it configures Hobson’s choice for the bunch of indo-pacific states to pick a side. The core naval cadres of the region have been driven out by the economic giant China and the strategic Godzilla America. The Cuddling of India with the American bloc is also a major blowdown to the Chinese interests as the Indian navy is a considered power not only in the Indian Ocean region but in the sphere of the Pacific Ocean as well. Antony Blinken, the golden boy of Joe Biden, proclaims: “The American policy against China will revolve around 03 priorities, invest its capabilities, align its allies, and Compete with China’s allies.”
As a response, China claims it as a “Cold War Mentality” and that “It would lead to making practical the concept of “Asia for Asians”. What the more concerning is the presence of outsiders in the region. NATO has been the right hand of the US in this naval war. the establishment of QUAD and the development of the AUKUS deal open the region to deep rival conflict. Contrastingly, China has been using the Slami-Slicing tactics for the smaller Islands as well. The BRI project has successfully been engulfed as the bargaining chip for China to strengthen its diplomatic relations in the region. The formation of the BRICS and the Global Security Initiatives are some of the tools in hand for Beijing’s political campaign.
The critical establishment of QUAD has aggrandized the geopolitics Indo-Pacific.
As the “Manifest Destiny” of Americans is still relevant today, the QUAD group has been streamlined to counter the Sino ambitions. The interval meets up of the Quad leaders as well as Biden`s recent interest in the Indo-Pacific Ocean has raised an alarming situation for China. The interbond of America with the QUAD group and other general countries has rubber-stamped the American desire to strengthen its military affairs in this area. These systematic activities of the rival groups have outraged China. The security pact of China with Solomon Island garnered a global hue and cry, especially by the U.S led bloc. It is home to more than 900 small islands and an economic hub for the tourism industry. For this very important, China streamlines its so-called security pact. The terms of this pact are also very critical for the whole region that demonstrating that, “China can make ship visits and stopover to the island any time. Moreover, China would also send its military force to protect the security of the island.” this has sparked the geo-political rivalry as the American blamed Chinese to build a naval empire around the island, from which it has the ambition to control the whole region. China also has given bountiful offers to the other states as well to bolster its strong position.
In a nutshell, the geopolitical trends, in the recent era, have shifted towards the sea waters, over which the indo-pacific is the battleground for the global power’s hungry states. The majestic nature of the oceans and the mighty waves of the water have been haunted by the inter-state rivalries of the nation with the help of aircraft carriers and naval forces. The alliance politics of the US-China has indulged the region into a total mess. The alarms of the war have been raised by the practical Chinese security pact that halted the US progressive ambitions. Concurrently, the region has been militarized by furious steps such as AUKUS deals and many more. Hence, the Indo-Pacific now is an altogether battle zone for geopolitical rivalry among the nations.
