Trends in international relations in the Indo-Pacific region

Abstract

The global Indian and Pacific region is playing an increasing role in modern international relations. At the beginning of the XXI century, this region is a crossroads of different interests of great powers. The United States continues to play a leading role. The Pentagon introduced the concept of the Indo-Pacific region. From a military-strategic point of view, this concept is a symbol of American-Chinese competition. This process intensified under the Trump administration in 2017-2020. The Biden administration is consolidating regional democracies. Australia, India and Japan play a key role in this process. The European Union promotes the values and ideas of democracy in the Indo-Pacific region. China is an important trading partner of the EU. The intensification of the Sino-US confrontation in early 2022 has blocked the entry into force of the China-EU Free Trade and Investment Agreement. In early 2022, the United States, Great Britain and Australia announced the creation of a military alliance. India and Japan are concerned about China's growing military power. The Republic of Korea has a similar position. Hotspots of confrontation in the region are Taiwan, the Korean Peninsula, the disputed Spratly Islands. The Indo-Pakistani conflict around Kashmir destabilizes regional security. The Indo-Pacific region is an example of a complex multipolar system of international relations. This system is more risky in terms of security. The functioning of internal regional and interregional communication networks is complicated by military-technical, environmental, demographic, socio-cultural, interstate contradictions. The formation of a regional security system is limited by political problems. Post-modern democracies, such as Australia, India, Japan and the modernized Chinese autocracy and the North Korean Stalinist dictatorship, coexist in the Indo-Pacific region. The balance of interests is maintained by the United States and the European Union. This balance is volatile and unpredictable