The Future of U.S. Rebalancing in Turbulent Indo-Pacific

Subject Areas : Iranian Political Research

Ghadeer Nabizadeh ¹ , Jahanbakhsh Ezadi ² , Seyed Ali Tabatabaei Panah ³ , Hamidreza Shirzad ⁴

1 - Ph.D. Student, Department of Political Science, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2021-10-29 Accepted : 2022-01-31 Published : 2023-03-21

Keywords: strategic rotation, BRI, Indo-Pacific, Rebalancing,

Abstract :

The shift in US strategy - from a counterbalanced strategy to a region now called the Indo-Pacific - is significant in a variety of ways. Therefore, this study aims to examine the future of the US strategy in Indo-Pacific and seeks to answer the question that according to the US strategy in the Asia-Pacific, how will the balance of power in the vast and strategic region change in the next decade? The region's unique features add to the Indo-Pacific strategic importance, and so the United States has sought to maintain its dominance in the region by shifting its strategy from Atlantic to Pacific. Regarding the rebalancing strategy, there seems to be ambiguities in its priorities and its components, which were tried to be reduced by presenting documents, findings, descriptions and explanations. Descriptive-analytical method was implemented to do the research and as per its findings, from one perspective, the change in China's behavior has caused the US strategic pivot to the region, and from the other perspective, the US strategic turn to the region has changed China's behavior as an active and effective regional power over the past two decades. In a nutshell, the turbulance in the regional balance of power, especially with the implementation of the massive Silk Road economic belt project (BRI) and the use of Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) strategy to deepen control on the vast Indo-Pacific, challenging US supremacy and causing problems in balance of power in favor of Beijing.

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