Conceptualizing the Indo-Pacific Geopolitics

Details

• Time: 12:00-1:00PM
• Date: Thursday, 12 May 2022
• Venue: Zhumu, please contact Afaanwi.Che@xjtlu.edu.cn for Zhumu details

Abstract

The Indo-Pacific (IP) has been a hotly discussed concept worldwide. This talk will try to conceptualize IP through applying relevant international relations theories, such as securitization and balance of threats, to explore the origin, evolutionary process and consequences of this concept officially adopted as US Indo-Pacific Strategy. The presentation will evaluate the logic for the IP idea to become a driving force for allied coalescing in building a new security architecture in the region and reshape the international security order. Through nuanced analysis the talk will also expose the inherent challenges for the Indo-Pacific Strategy to be effectively carried out to achieve its desired objectives. Among the issues to be discussed will be the trend of militarization of the Indo-Pacific endeavor and the nexus of geo-politics and geoeconomics behind the Indo-Pacific construct. The presentation will also specify the different state response to the Indo-Pacific evolution.

Speaker

You Ji (B.A., Peking University and PhD, Australian National University) is professor of international relations in the Department of Government, University of Macau. He is author of four books in English, the most recent one being China’s Military Transformation—Politics and War Preparation (2016); and numerous articles, including: “How Xi Jinping Dominates Elite Party Politics: A Case Study of Civil-Military Leadership Formation”, The China Journal, Issue 84, 2020; “The Geo-strategic and Military Drivers of China’s Belt-and-Road Initiative”, The China Review, Vol. 20, No. 4, 2020; "Indian Ocean: A Grand Sino-Indian Game of Go'", In David Brewster (ed.), India and China at Sea, Oxford University Press, 2018; “The Political and Military Nexus of Beijing-Washington-Taipei Interactions in the Taiwan Strait”, The China Review, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2018; “China’s National Security Council: Evolution, Rationality and Operations”, Journal of Contemporary China, Vol. 25, No. 98, 2016; “Sino-US “Cat-and-Mouse” Game Concerning Freedom of Navigation and Overflight”, Journal of Strategic Studies, Vol. 39, No. 5-6, 2016. “Xi Jinping and PLA Centrality in Managing the South China Sea Disputes”, China: International Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 2017. You Ji is on the editorial board of eight academic journals including The China Journal, Issue and Studies, and Journal of Contemporary China.