“All the Indo-Pacific Men”: The System of US Political and Military Pacts in the Indian Ocean and Asia Pacific

The brief history and the current status of the development of multilateral military, political, and economic initiatives of the United States in the Indian and Pacific oceans that aim to contain the expansion of China and its growing economic and military power are summarized. An attempt is made to analyze these initiatives and alliances as a system, even though they may seem at times counterintuitive, strategically heterogeneous, and chaotic.This paper also attempts to evaluate the opportunities for the United States and its allies in the region to strengthen these initiatives further in the context of a sharp rise of tensions between the United States and China in 2022 around the problem of Taiwan. This political clash instigated by Washington in summer of 2022 is often regarded as a potential threat of a military conflict, so it is important to estimate to what extent the US–formed mechanisms of political and defense cooperation in the region have potential to solve the purposes of the United States in case of a “hot” stage of the Taiwan crisis.