Policy Briefs Books Journals

Peace and Security in Northeast Asia Policy Brief  No.173

Policy Brief No.173: Asia-Pacific vs. Indo-Pacific: Paradigm Shift or False Choice?

Chung-in Moon

October 12, 2023

Image: sameer madhukar chogale/Shutterstock.com

This Policy Brief examines an anomaly taking place in international politics: the rise of Indo-Pacific geopolitical thinking, abruptly replacing the discourse constructed around the concept of the Asia-Pacific that has persisted for years. As the United States and Japan have initiated the Indo-Pacific strategy, policymakers and scholars in India, South Korea, Australia and most European countries have uncritically accepted the transition to an Indo-Pacific era without any substantial debate about its appropriateness. In the sense of what the philosopher and historian Thomas Kuhn called a paradigm shift, it is quite incomprehensible, because the Asia-Pacific paradigm is still alive and well.