The Indo-Pacific Geostrategy and the Quad: The Pacific Century and China-USA Disputes

Abstract

In 2011, during the Obama administration (2009-2017), changes in the course of the United States' geostrategy for Asia were named America's Pacific Century; which marks the shift in the US foreign policy towards a focus on the Pacific in the 21st century, and on the great powers present in the region, mainly China. Such actions are mainly based on the geopolitics of Offensive Realism as a strategic premise. In order to oppose the Chinese rise in the interstate system and maintain the primacy of its interests in Asia, the US proposes the Indo-Pacific strategy, in order to balance the Chinese role in the continent; in addition to the formation of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad), together with Japan, Australia, and India, to establish a security partnership with those considered the greatest adversaries, in the US view, to Chinese interests in the Pacific. This strategy for Asia seeks to counteract the gradual Chinese preponderance in the Asia-Pacific region. Therefore, this article proposes to analyse the origins and main motivations for the establishment of a structure to contain China in the Pacific by the United States, as well as the Chinese positions and considerations for the region.