Tayyaba Jaffery
University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Muhammad Shoaib Pervez
University of Management and Technology, Lahore, Pakistan
Keywords: Indo-Pacific, AUKUS, minilateralism, Hub and Spokes, security architecture, heterarchy
DOI: 10.5509/2025983-art5
The unprecedented rise in China’s politico-economic prowess, its assertive activities in the South China Sea, and its heightened competition with the United States, has prompted a reassessment of the pre-existing US-led alliance structures in the Indo-Pacific Region (IPR). In addition to bilateralism and multilateralism, a new framework has been added to the region’s security architecture, i.e., the hub-and-spokes plus model (HSPM). The HSPM is an evolved version of the Hub-and-Spokes System (HSS), which acts as a standalone model facilitating bilateral partnerships and spoke-to-spoke connections, with a focus on sharing enhanced capabilities. The HSPM includes a latticework of minilateral arrangements, such as the Quad, AUKUS, the US-Japan-Philippines triad, and the US-Japan-South Korea triad. In this article, we will explain AUKUS as a case study of the HSPM, arguing that this model operates on heterarchy as its guiding principle, whereby power is diffused rather than concentrated. This premise, novel in its right, will add to the already existing studies on AUKUS and the IPR’s security architecture.
“中心辐射+模式”：以印太地区的AUKUS为例
关键词: 印度洋-太平洋、AUKUS、小多边主义、轴辐关系、安全架构、非层级性结构
中国政治经济实力的空前崛起、其在南海的强硬行动以及与美国日益加剧的竞争，促使人们重新评估印太地区（IPR）原有的以美国为主导的联盟结构。除了双边主义和多边主义之外，该地区的安全架构还新增了一个框架，即“中心辐射+模式”（HSPM）。HSPM是“中心辐射系统”（HSS）的升级版，它作为一个独立的模式，促进双边伙伴关系和辐条与辐条间连接，并注重共享增强的能力。HSPM包含一系列迷你多边安排，例如四方安全对话、AUKUS、美日菲三角关系以及美日韩三角关系。本文将以AUKUS作为HSPM 的案例研究，并论证该模式以非层级性结构为指导原则，权力分散而非集中。这一新颖的前提将丰富关于AUKUS和印度洋-太平洋安全架构的现有研究。