The Indo-Pacific Four (IP4) is a group of four NATO Asia-Pacific partners, including Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Korea. These countries share the commonality of bordering the Pacific Ocean. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), has full diplomatic relations with 180 out of the other 192 United Nations member states, Cook Islands, Niue and the State of Palestine. As of 2024, China has had the most diplomatic missions of any state.
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is an inter-governmental forum for 21 member economies in the Pacific Rim that promotes free trade throughout the Asia-Pacific region. Following the success of ASEAN's series of post-ministerial conferences launched in the mid-1980s, APEC started in 1989, in response to the growing interdependence of Asia-Pacific economies and the advent of regional trade blocs in other parts of the world; it aimed to establish new markets for agricultural products and raw materials beyond Europe. Headquartered in Singapore, APEC is recognized as one of the highest-level multilateral blocs and oldest forums in the Asia-Pacific region, and exerts significant global influence.
The United States Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) is the unified combatant command of the United States Armed Forces responsible for the Indo-Pacific region.
The Asia–Pacific (APAC) is the region of the world adjoining the western Pacific Ocean. The region's precise boundaries vary depending on context, but countries and territories in Australasia, East Asia, and Southeast Asia are often included. In a wider context, Central Asia, North Asia, the Pacific Islands, South Asia, West Asia, and even Pacific-adjoining countries in the Americas can be included. For example, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) includes five countries in the New World. The term has become popular since the late 1980s in commerce, finance, and politics. Despite the heterogeneity of the regions' economies, most individual nations within the zone are emerging markets experiencing rapid growth. Sometimes, the notion of "Asia–Pacific excluding Japan" (APEJ) is considered useful.
Bilateral relations exist between Australia and Japan.
A major non-NATO ally (MNNA) is a designation given by the United States government to countries that have strategic working relationships with the U.S. Armed Forces while not being members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). While the status does not automatically constitute a mutual defense pact with the United States, it does confer a variety of military and financial advantages that are otherwise unobtainable by non-NATO countries. There are currently 20 major non-NATO allies across four continents: 11 in Asia, 4 in Africa, 3 in South America, and 2 in Oceania.
The United States foreign policy toward the People's Republic of China originated during the Cold War. At that time, the U.S. had a containment policy against communist states. The leaked Pentagon Papers indicated the efforts by the U.S. to contain China through military actions undertaken in the Vietnam War. The containment policy centered around an island chain strategy. President Richard Nixon's China rapprochement signaled a shift in focus to gain leverage in containing the Soviet Union. Formal diplomatic ties between the U.S. and China were established in 1979, and with normalized trade relations since 2000, the U.S. and China have been linked by closer economic ties and more cordial relations. In his first term as U.S. president, Barack Obama said, "We want China to succeed and prosper. It's good for the United States if China continues on the path of development that it's on".
The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty is a 1951 collective security agreement initially formed as a trilateral agreement between Australia, New Zealand, and the United States; and from 1986 an agreement between New Zealand and Australia, and separately, Australia and the United States, to co-operate on military matters in the Pacific Ocean region, although today the treaty is taken to relate to conflicts worldwide. It provides that an armed attack on any of the three parties would be dangerous to the others, and that each should act to meet the common threat. It set up a committee of foreign ministers that can meet for consultation.
According to the U.S. State Department, relations between New Zealand and the United States as of August 2011 are "the best they have been in decades." New Zealand is a major non-NATO ally of the United States.
Fumio Kishida is the Prime Minister of Japan and the President of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) since 2021. A member of the House of Representatives, he previously served as Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2012 to 2017 and as acting Minister of Defense in 2017. From 2017 to 2020, he also chaired the LDP Policy Research Council.
New Zealand is party to several free trade agreements (FTAs) worldwide.
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QSD), commonly known as the Quad, is a strategic security dialogue between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States that is maintained by talks between member countries. The dialogue was initiated in 2007 by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the support of Australian Prime Minister John Howard, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. The dialogue was paralleled by joint military exercises of an unprecedented scale, titled Exercise Malabar. The diplomatic and military arrangement was widely viewed as a response to increased Chinese economic and military power.
NATO maintains foreign relations with many non-member countries across the globe. NATO runs a number of programs which provide a framework for the partnerships between itself and these non-member nations, typically based on that country's location. These include the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council and the Partnership for Peace.
The most significant initiative made by the Narendra Modi government is the focus on neighbouring countries and major Asian powers coupled with emphasizing on the two decades old Look East policy. Asia being the major focus area of his foreign policy, Modi and his foreign minister chose several Asian countries for their initial bilateral visits. He has made state visits to Bhutan and Nepal and Japan within the first 100 days of his government and also hosted Asian leaders like former Prime Minister Tony Abbott of Australia, President Xi Jinping of China and Prime Minister Nguyễn Tấn Dũng of Vietnam, apart from inviting SAARC leaders in his inauguration ceremony. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj has also made official visits to several Asian capitals like Dhaka, Bangladesh, Kathmandu, Nepal, Naypidaw, Myanmar, Singapore, Hanoi, Vietnam, Manama, Bahrain, Kabul, Afghanistan, Dushanbe, Tajikistan, Malé, Maldives, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Seoul, South Korea and Beijing China.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), initially abbreviated as TPP11 or TPP-11, is a trade agreement between Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam. It evolved from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), which was never ratified due to the withdrawal of the United States. The eleven members have combined economies representing 13.4 percent of global gross domestic product, at approximately US$13.5 trillion, making the CPTPP one of the world's largest free trade areas by GDP, along with the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, the European single market, and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership. The United Kingdom and the present members formally signed an accession protocol on 16 July 2023, and will join the agreement when it has been ratified by all parties, or after 15 months if the UK and a majority of CPTPP parties have ratified it.
Free and Open Indo-Pacific is an umbrella term that encompasses Indo-Pacific-specific strategies of countries with similar interests in the region. The concept, with its origins in Weimar German geopolitics, has been revived since 2006 through Japanese initiatives and American cooperation.
A Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) (Japanese: 部隊間協力円滑化協定, lit. 'Force-to-force Cooperation Facilitation Agreement') refers to a bilateral defense and security pacts between governments that provides shared military training and military operations. It is an agreement built to create a framework for the two cooperating countries to move their military force whenever required, and also provides a pathway for goods to be imported and exported from one country to the other through following the movement of visiting military forces.
AUKUS, also styled as Aukus, is a trilateral security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States intended to "promote a free and open Indo-Pacific that is secure and stable." Initially announced on September 15, 2021, the partnership involves two lines of effort : Pillar 1 focuses on the provision of nuclear-powered attack submarines to Australia, while Pillar 2 entails the collaborative development of other military technologies and capabilities. AUKUS is widely seen as a response to the perception among its members that the People's Republic of China poses a threat to their regional and global security interests.
South Korea's Indo-Pacific strategy is a comprehensive strategy that encompasses the economic and security spheres of Indo-Pacific countries. Announcing the strategy, South Korea said, "While strengthening the rules-based international order, which is conducive to a stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific, we will work towards a regional order that enables a diverse set of nations to cooperate and prosper together."
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol held the South Korea-Africa Summit and the Korea-Pacific Islands Summit to strengthen economic cooperation with these regions. The Indo-Pacific Strategy to strengthen solidarity with Indo-Pacific countries was also announced in the first year of his administration.
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