BEYOND THE HUB AND SPOKES: THE NETWORKING LOGIC AND THE OPERATIONALIZATION OF US INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY

This article examines continuity in the transformation of the United States’ security arrangements in Asia from a Cold War “hub and spokes system” focused on East Asia into a new arrangement of “networked minilateralism” across the wider “Indo-Pacific” region. It focuses mainly on the role of the United States and the policy tools it employs to coordinate the strengthening of linkages among its partners. By employing tools of defence diplomacy, standardisation in trade and infrastructure development, revamping the rhetoric of common values and inviting extra-regional actors to play a more active role in the Indo-Pacific, Washington is mobilising a “latticework” of partners that are assisting in the redesign of the regional security system and the balancing of China. At the same time, structural changes in the region’s power balance have induced local partners to become part of this networked architecture and to maintain a clearer sense of ownership in the regional security system.