Australia can’t continue to divide the Indian Ocean in two
We’re approaching an Indo-Pacific strategy with a glass half-full – best to fill it up entirely.
Australia’s definition of the “Indo-Pacific” currently includes much of the Pacific Ocean as well as the eastern Indian Ocean, but excludes the western Indian Ocean. This is no longer a sensible or useful way of defining our region. Australian policymakers need to include the island states of the western Indian Ocean in our Indo-Pacific strategy, even if only in a fuzzy way.
The National Security College, with the support of the Department of Defence, is leading a two-year research project on operationalising Australia’s Indo-Pacific strategy in the Indian Ocean. In the sixth of a series of publications, Dr David Brewster advocates for including the western Indian Ocean in Australia’s definition of the Indo-Pacific.
This publication origianlly appeared in The Interpreter.
