Fundamental Components of the Indo-Pacific Strategic Architecture

Abstract

U.S. foreign policy provides a useful analytical foundation for understanding American engagement with its allies and partners—engagement that continues to shape developments across the Indo-Pacific region, including Thailand, both in the present and in the near future. The significance of the Indo-Pacific Strategy is clearly reflected in President Joseph R. Biden’s remarks at the Quad Leaders’ Summit on 24 September 2021, where he stated that “the future of each of our nations—and indeed the world—depends on a free and open Indo-Pacific that will endure and flourish in the decades ahead.”

Furthermore, the U.S. National Security Council has underscored the strategic value of the Indo-Pacific by noting that “America’s strategic goals are grounded in the belief that no region will have a greater impact on the world and on the American people than the Indo-Pacific. The United States, together with its allies and partners, shares a common vision and advances a strategy built upon shared principles. To strengthen the region’s capacity to achieve these strategic objectives, the United States can work collaboratively with others toward a free, open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient Indo-Pacific for generations to come.”

In this article, the author synthesizes and presents the essential elements of the Indo-Pacific Strategy in order to illustrate how the United States conceptualizes the region and communicates its vision both to the American public and to the international community. Particular attention is given to Washington’s stated objectives and the strategic pathways it has articulated for translating these objectives into concrete policy actions.