Indo-us strategic partnership in Indian and pacific oceans Implications for littoral states

Abstract

USA and India have been augmenting their corporation in different spheres of which strategic partnership hold a prime position. Since the last couple of decades they have moved closer as their interests converge in majority of areas. The Indo-Pacific region due to its vitality is top of the agenda of all the littoral states in the region. Every player views it through their own strategic frameworks. The American aims in the region are highlighted by the "Indo-Pacific Strategy" (also known as Free and Open Indo-Pacific) a successor to the "Asia-Pacific Rebalance" while that of India can be deduced from the combination of "Act East"· and "Think West" policies and "security and growth for all the region". The alignment in policies of both have clubbed them as a single player which has buffet the region with competition as other littoral states like China struggles to pursue their framework of "Mari time Silk Road"- through strategies like "String of Pearls" -an extension of BRI. It is what brings the allies and partners of these states like Pakistan, Australia and Japan etc. into the limelight. The interaction and competition between the major powers that collectively account for nearly half of the global economy has given rise to alliances building as the comparatively smaller states bandwagon with the major powers like USA and China while some play one of the other for their own interests. The Indo-US cooperation have impressions on the region as every state will realign its policies in order to secure its interests in the best possible manner. The study is aimed at the Indo-US strategic cooperation and its impacts on the littoral states that share the region (Indian and Pacific Ocean), as they are forced in- due to the major powers policies that creates dependency relation in one way or the other.