Asia's new geopolitics: military power and regional order

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Table of Contents -- Contributors -- Acknowledgements -- Glossary -- Chapter One: A Region in Flux -- The Evolving Asian Order -- The Return of Geopolitics -- Strategic Interregnum -- A Region of Sub-Regions -- Chapter Two: Disputes and Tensions in Northeast Asia -- The Taiwan Flashpoint -- The Korean Peninsula -- The East China Sea -- Other Disputes and Tensions -- From Defence Modernisation to Arms Racing -- The Emerging Naval Arms Race -- Nuclear Weapons and Missile Developments -- Action-Reaction in the Cyber Domain -- Chapter Three: Strategic Outlooks and Languishing Institutions in Southeast Asia -- Tensions Within Southeast Asia -- Between the US and China -- Other Regional Powers -- Defence Priorities -- Defence Spending -- Major Weapons Acquisitions -- Chapter Four: Geopolitical Evolution in South Asia -- The Shadow of Afghanistan -- Changing Terms of the India-Pakistan Conflict -- India and China: Eroding Tranquility -- Nuclear Calculus -- The Return of Great-Power Rivalry -- Regional Asymmetries -- Chapter Five: Prospects for Asian Order -- Geopolitical Futures -- Which Vision? -- Maintaining Peace -- Conclusion -- Notes -- Index.

Intensifying geopolitical rivalries, rising defence spending and the proliferation of the latest military technology across Asia suggest that the region is set for a prolonged period of strategic contestation. None of the three competing visions for the future of Asian order - a US-led Free and Open Indo-Pacific', a Chinese-centred order, or the ASEAN-inspired Indo-Pacific Outlook' - is likely to prevail in the short to medium term. In the absence of a new framework, the risk of open conflict is heightened, and along with it the need for effective mechanisms to maintain peace and stability. As Asia's leaders seek to rebuild their economies and societies in the wake of COVID-19, they would do well to reflect upon the lessons offered by the pandemic and their applicability in the strategic realm. The societies that have navigated the crisis most effectively have been able to do so by putting in place stringent protective measures. Crisis-management and -avoidance mechanisms - and even, in the longer term, wider arms control - can be seen as the strategic equivalent of such measures, and as such they should be pursued with urgency in Asia to reduce the risks of an even greater calamity.