I ndo -P acIfIc n ewsletter CONTENTS QUOTE

on the Arabian Peninsula (near the Straits of Bab al-Mandab and Hormuz), the Indonesian However, India’s increasing maritime might, archipelago (including the Straits of Malacca, coupled with the tumultuous global situation, has Lombok, and Sunda), and chokepoints leading encouraged the country to modernize its navy. [...] ambitions and realities Another problem is that the United States does The United States recognizes the importance not include the Western Indian Ocean or the eastern of maintaining a peaceful, secure, and prosperous coast of Africa in its conceptualization of the IOR. [...] The US framing of the Indo-Pacific to “Asia-Pacific,” and in 2018 it renamed the coincides with the Indo-Pacific Command’s US Pacific Command the US Indo-Pacific area of responsibility, which ends with India. [...] Yet the appointment of nodal opposed to, cooperation with the United States, points or coordinators for the IOR in both the and there is a deep tradition of non-alignment in US departments of State and Defense would be a the region. [...] In addition to repurposing in the IOR would encourage New Delhi to “get some of its in-theater resources from continental involved in the imperatives of the Pacific region.” to maritime challenges and maximizing its In other words, US support for Indian leadership diplomatic and military visits to regional in the IOR will trigger Indian support for US countries as it transits in the IOR, as some h.