Do Indo-Pacific countries share common views of their region? Why do some countries develop explicit policies on the Indo-Pacific while others do not? How do regional countries define and defend their interests in the Indo-Pacific? Why do some regional countries align with the Indo-Pacific vision of great powers like the United States while others chart their own path? How do regional countries view the ASEAN Outlook on Indo-Pacific (AOIP)? This monograph seeks to answer these questions by examining how India, South Korea, and Australia develop their views of the Indo-Pacific. Specifically, we seek to accomplish two main tasks. First, we seek to assess what drives their Indo-Pacific approaches, how they implement and institutionalize them, and the challenges and opportunities in implementing those approaches. Second, we seek to examine how these three regional countries view the AOIP, their existing engagements with ASEAN, and the broader challenge of developing coherent engagement plans with AOIP.
This monograph will also examine the deeper drivers of regional security and consider the different policy options available to engage the Indo-Pacific as well as their opportunities and challenges. This monograph will be of interest to students, analysts, and policymakers seeking to understand the Indo-Pacific strategic theater from the perspective of regional countries, rather than from the US-China vantage point alone.