Routledge Studies on Think Asia. London and New York: Routledge, 2022. US$49.00, ebook. ISBN 9781003278719.
The Indo-Pacific construct has emerged amidst deepening China-US rivalry, growing questions about the effectiveness of larger multilateral groupings including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as rising tensions in regional hotspots such as the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. The “Indo-Pacific” started out as a vision promoted by countries such as Japan and Indonesia, before transforming into a strategy by the United States and its partners. In 2019, ASEAN also issued its “outlook” on the Indo-Pacific. While various aspects of the construct continue to be contested—such as its legitimacy, objectives, and scope—it is clear that the Indo-Pacific has risen to prominence as one of the dominant narratives that drive regional cooperation.
Certainly, new trends in regional multilateralism have accompanied the ascent of the Indo-Pacific. These include the proliferation of minilateral or plurilateral groupings, as well as the incorporation of hard security issues into the agenda of these new arrangements. Such trends are arguably in stark contrast to the conventional ASEAN-led model—built on inclusivity and non-traditional security or functional cooperation—that has characterized regional multilateral architecture since the end of the Cold War. It is this shift, as well as potential future evolutions of regional multilateralism, that drive the central inquiry of this edited volume by Swaran Singh and Reena Marwah.
In their introductory chapter, Singh and Marwah emphasize the fluidity and flexibility of “the new genre of multilateralism in the Indo-Pacific” (13). They highlight the need to reconceptualize multilateralism in light of rising powers that have challenged the status quo, the increasing influence of non-state actors, and the widening agendas to cover both “supra- and sub-national issues” (3). They note, however, that despite the expansion of issues and actors, the shifting alignments in the Indo-Pacific have primarily revolved around China-US strategic competition. Amid the evolving trends, three points of consensus among regional countries stand out: first, the commitment to democratize international relations and global governance; second, the agreement to strengthen ASEAN centrality; and third, the acknowledgement of the need to develop inclusive and flexible multilateralism that includes all the major stakeholders of the region.
The book is organized around two sections. The first section, comprising five chapters, seeks to analyze the new trends and templates that undergird Indo-Pacific multilateralism. Chapter 2 by Ashis Adhikary examines the origins and evolution of multilateral groupings in the Asia-Pacific since the end of World War II. Adhikary observes that the “Cold War theatre of security architecture seems to be reappearing” in the Indo-Pacific, but recognizes that there are also fundamental differences in the two contexts (28). In chapter 3, Devyani Chaturvedi unpacks “multilateralism 2.0” which they define according to the grouping’s nature, scope, source, and actors. Chaturvedi then uses the case of infrastructure development, and specifically the Trilateral Partnership for Infrastructure Investment, to empirically illustrate the characteristics of “multilateralism 2.0.”
Katyayinee Richhariya’s chapter 4 focuses on economic multilateralism, highlighting the important role played by the smaller regional countries in addition to the major powers. This brings the reader to chapter 5, in which Vignesh Ram explores the implications of the Indo-Pacific and its concomitant initiatives for ASEAN centrality. Ram posits that “major power-driven geopolitics” present ASEAN with two challenges: that it may become a mere “norm follower” and that its community-building process would be delayed (70). The final chapter in the first section, by Madhura B. Bane, casts the spotlight on multilateral cooperation in climate change that is led by the island-states in the Indo-Pacific.
The second section of the volume, comprising seven chapters, is aimed at understanding the newer regional initiatives that have emerged. The first three chapters in this section, penned respectively by Rushali Saha, Mahima Duggal, and Chanchal Sarowa, focus on the Quad. Saha juxtaposes the rhetoric surrounding the Quad vis-à-vis the reality, Duggal assesses the prospects for the Quad to become an Asian version of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), while Sarowa underscores the Quad’s suitability to promote collaboration in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.
Garima Sangwan’s chapter 10 turns the reader’s attention to the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), emphasizing its potential to “become a game-changing experiment in the economic integration of the Indo-Pacific” if it is able to overcome challenges related to scope and membership (136). The next two chapters focus on the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and Five Eyes (FVEY). While both these initiatives have been in existence for a while, Oindrila DattaGupta and Swasti Rao’s analyses underline that BIMSTEC and FVEY are part of the multilateral groupings that bolster the Indo-Pacific. Last but not least, chapter 13 by Silky Kaur examines maritime multilateralism in the region, with a focus on India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI).
Overall, the edited volume makes a timely and relevant contribution to the scholarship on Indo-Pacific multilateralism. As pointed out in the literature, the regional multilateral architecture is undergoing a transition. This has accompanied broader geopolitical trends and shifts in regional alignments. This volume by Singh and Marwah has helped to unpack some of the key developments and implications for the region and regional countries. With the fast pace of changes in regional multilateralism, perhaps the editors could consider a second edition which incorporates the new trilateral groupings that have been created since the volume’s publication.
Sarah Teo
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore