Great-Power Rivalry in the Indo-Pacific: U.S.–China Strategic Competition, Alliance Networks, and Pakistan’s Hedging Dilemma
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70670/sra.v4i2.2293Keywords:
Indo-Pacific; U.S.–China Rivalry; Great-Power Competition; Strategic Alliances; Belt and Road Initiative; Pakistan; Strategic HedgingAbstract
The Indo-Pacific region has become the main theatre of the new great power competition, as the United States is making sure that the region maintains a rules-based order while China leverages its economic power, technological capabilities, and maritime dimensions into its strategies. The geopolitics, the institutional mechanisms and the region's implications of U.S.–China competition is explored, and focus is paid to alliance networks, maritime chokepoints, economic architecture and the strategic dilemmas of middle powers. Based on qualitative content analysis of secondary sources, the study explains the conflict competition in terms of realism theory, power transition theory, Thucydides Trap and Rimland geopolitics. It has identified the competition is increasingly driving across military, economic, diplomatic, technological and infrastructural fields and that regionals are adopting “strategies of differentiation” of alignment, autonomy, and hedging. The Middle Eastern country with a tense relationship with India, feelings of dependency on CPEC and historical linkages with the USA is certainly Pakistan. The piece concludes thathedging –exercised in calibrated fashion still continues to be the most prudent measure that Pakistan can take today.
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