Redefining Asian Security: China, the Indo-Pacific, and the Contest for Regional Order

For seven decades, Asia’s security order has been anchored by U.S. primacy and its network of alliances that provided deterrence and stability. The rise of China, however, has transformed regional dynamics, generating competing visions of how security should be organized. At the center of this contest lies the Indo-Pacific framework, promoted by the United States and its partners as both a strategic narrative and an institutional project. China rejects this framing and instead advances alternative concepts, most notably the New Asian Security Concept (NASC) and the global security initiative (GSI), which emphasize sovereignty, inclusivity, and development-led stability. Drawing on Barry Buzan’s regional security complex (RSC) theory, this paper examines how China uses discursive power and institutional innovation to challenge the existing order and reshape the terms of regional interdependence. It analyses the evolving Indo-Pacific security architecture, explores Chinese perceptions of the concept, and assesses Beijing’s attempts to redefine norms and institutions. The findings suggest that while China’s strategies reflect a significant ideational and structural ambition, they remain constrained by credibility deficits, regional skepticism, and competing order-building projects. The result is a fragmented and contested security landscape in which multiple actors and visions coexist, revealing that order transformation is less a linear power transition and more a negotiated, hybrid process shaped by the interplay of great power competition and regional agency.