Indo-Pacific Concept and Its Strategic Architecture

The term "Indo-Pacific" refers to the combined maritime expanse of the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, treated as a single strategic theatre. While the concept has historical roots in geopolitical writing, it gained prominence in US policy through the 2017 National Security Strategy under Trump's first term and was formally institutionalised when the US Pacific Command was renamed US Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) in May 2018.

For the US, the Indo-Pacific framing reflects a strategic acknowledgement that China's rising naval power in the South and East China Seas, combined with its growing presence in the Indian Ocean, requires a unified theatre approach. India sits at the fulcrum of this theatre: it controls key chokepoints in the Indian Ocean (including the Malacca Strait's western flank), has the region's only blue-water navy capable of contesting Chinese power, and borders both the Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal.