Securing the Blue Commons: Cooperation for an Indo-Pacific Maritime Order

As maritime tensions rise from the South China Sea to the Red Sea, the Indo-Pacific’s waterways have become the frontline of strategic contestation, economic interdependence, and security risk. An unpredictable United States and an expansionist China are reshaping the regional calculus, making it imperative for Indo-Pacific powers to chart their own course. This session will spotlight how countries like India and Indonesia, alongside other Indo-Pacific partners like Australia and Japan, can step up to build a more inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific maritime architecture.

• How can India, Indonesia, Japan and Australia collectively strengthen a multipolar, rules-based maritime order amid intensifying US-China rivalry and rising hybrid threats?
• Should the Indo-Pacific pursue flexible minilateral groupings beyond the QUAD to better reflect regional realities, and what role should Indonesia play in that architecture?
• What practical burden-sharing models—such as coordinated patrols, defence industry collaborations, or intelligence exchange - can deepen Indo-Pacific maritime cooperation?
• How can India and Indonesia leverage their bilateral defence ties to anchor a regionally crafted maritime security framework rooted in ASEAN and BIMSTEC?