INDO-PACIFICSTRATEGY

OF THE U NITED S TATESFEBRUARY 2022

“

THE FUTURE OF EACH OF OURNATIONS—AND INDEED THE WORLD—
DEPENDS ON A FREE AND OPEN I NDOPACIFIC ENDURING AND
FLOURISHING IN THE DECADES AHEAD.
PRESIDENT JOE BIDENQUAD LEADERS’ SUMMITSEPTEMBER 24, 2021

TABLE OF CONTENTSI.

THE INDO-PACIFIC’S PROMISEII.

OUR INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGYADVANCE A FREE AND OPEN INDO-PACIFICBUILD CONNECTIONS WITHIN AND BEYOND THE REGION
DRIVE INDO-PACIFIC PROSPERITY
BOLSTER INDO-PACIFIC SECURITY
BUILD REGIONAL RESILIENCE TO 21ST-CENTURY TRANSNATIONAL THREATS

III.

INDO-PACIFIC ACTION PLANIV.

CONCLUSION



THE INDO-PACIFIC’SPROMISEThe United States is an Indo-Pacific power. The region, stretching from our Pacific coastline to the Indian
Ocean, is home to more than half of the world’s people, nearly two-thirds of the world’s economy, and sevenof the world’s largest militaries. More members of the U.S. military are based in the region than in any otheroutside the United States. It supports more than three million American jobs and is the source of nearly $900
billion in foreign direct investment in the United States. In the years ahead, as the region drives as much as
two-thirds of global economic growth, its influence will only grow—as will its importance to the UnitedStates.
The United States has long recognized the Indo-Pacific as vital to our security and prosperity. Our ties wereforged two centuries ago, when Americans came to the region seeking commercial opportunities, and grewwith the arrival of Asian immigrants to the United States. The Second World War reminded the UnitedStates that our country could only be secure if Asia was, too. And so in the post-war era, the United Statessolidified our ties with the region, through ironclad treaty alliances with Australia, Japan, the Republic ofKorea (ROK), the Philippines, and Thailand, laying the foundation of security that allowed regional
democracies to flourish. Those ties expanded as the United States supported the region’s premierorganizations, particularly the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN); developed close trade andinvestment relationships; and committed to uphold international law and norms, from human rights tofreedom of navigation.
The passage of time has underscored the strategic necessity of the United States’ consistent role. At the endof the Cold War, the United States considered but rejected the idea of withdrawing our military presence,
understanding that the region held strategic value that would only grow in the 21st century. Since then,administrations of both political parties have shared a commitment to the region. The George W. Bush
Administration understood Asia’s growing importance and engaged closely with the People’s Republic ofChina (PRC), Japan, and India. The Obama Administration significantly accelerated American prioritizationof Asia, investing new diplomatic, economic, and military resources there. And the Trump Administration
also recognized the Indo-Pacific as the world’s center of gravity.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES
Under President Biden, the United States is determined to strengthen our long-

THE REGION

term position in and commitment to the Indo-Pacific. We will focus on every

BY THENUMBERScorner of the region, from Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia, to South Asia andOceania, including the Pacific Islands. We do so at a time when many of our alliesand partners, including in Europe, are increasingly turning their own attention to
the region; and when there is broad, bipartisan agreement in the U.S. Congress that
the United States must, too. In a quickly changing strategic landscape, we♦

POPULATION:
Over half the world’s
people, including 58%
of youth♦

ECONOMY: 60%of global GDP♦

GROWTH: 2/3 ofglobal economic
growth♦GEOGRAPHY:
65% of the world’s
oceans and 25% of its
land

recognize that American interests can only be advanced if we firmly anchor theUnited States in the Indo-Pacific and strengthen the region itself, alongside ourclosest allies and partners.
This intensifying American focus is due in part to the fact that the Indo-Pacificfaces mounting challenges, particularly from the PRC. The PRC is combining its
economic, diplomatic, military, and technological might as it pursues a sphere of
influence in the Indo-Pacific and seeks to become the world’s most influential
power. The PRC’s coercion and aggression spans the globe, but it is most acute in
the Indo-Pacific. From the economic coercion of Australia to the conflict along theLine of Actual Control with India to the growing pressure on Taiwan and bullyingof neighbors in the East and South China Seas, our allies and partners in the region
bear much of the cost of the PRC’s harmful behavior. In the process, the PRC is also

undermining human rights and international law, including freedom of navigation, as well as otherprinciples that have brought stability and prosperity to the Indo-Pacific.
Our collective efforts over the next decade will determine whether the PRC succeeds in transforming therules and norms that have benefitted the Indo-Pacific and the world. For our part, the United States isinvesting in the foundations of our strength at home, aligning our approach with those of our allies andpartners abroad, and competing with the PRC to defend the interests and vision for the future that we sharewith others. We will strengthen the international system, keep it grounded in shared values, and update it tomeet 21st-century challenges. Our objective is not to change the PRC but to shape the strategic environment
in which it operates, building a balance of influence in the world that is maximally favorable to the UnitedStates, our allies and partners, and the interests and values we share. We will also seek to manage
competition with the PRC responsibly. We will cooperate with our allies and partners while seeking to workwith the PRC in areas like climate change and nonproliferation. We believe it is in the interests of the region
and the wider world that no country withhold progress on existential transnational issues because ofbilateral differences.

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

5The Indo-Pacific faces other major challenges. Climate change is growing ever-more severe as South Asia’s
glaciers melt and the Pacific Islands battle existential rises in sea levels. The COVID-19 pandemic continues
to inflict a painful human and economic toll across the region. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea(DPRK) continues to expand its illicit nuclear weapons and missile programs. Indo-Pacific governments
grapple with natural disasters, resource scarcity, internal conflict, and governance challenges. Leftunchecked, these forces threaten to destabilize the region.

“

WE WILL FOCUS ON EVERY CORNER OF THE REGION,FROM NORTHEAST ASIA AND SOUTHEAST ASIA, TO
SOUTH ASIA AND OCEANIA, INCLUDING THE PACIFICISLANDS.

As we enter a decisive decade that holds considerable promise and historic obstacles for the Indo-Pacific, theAmerican role in the region must be more effective and enduring than ever. To do this, we will modernize
our long-standing alliances, strengthen emerging partnerships, and invest in regional organizations—thecollective capacity that will empower the Indo-Pacific to adapt to the 21st century’s challenges and seize its
opportunities. As the PRC, the climate crisis, and a pandemic test us, we must work with our allies andpartners toward our positive vision: of a free and open Indo-Pacific that is more connected, prosperous,
secure, and resilient. This national strategy outlines that approach and commits the United States to its
success.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATESOUR INDO-PACIFICSTRATEGY
The United States is committed to an Indo-Pacific that is free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, andresilient. To realize that future, the United States will strengthen our own role while reinforcing the region
itself. The essential feature of this approach is that it cannot be accomplished alone: changing strategic
circumstances and historic challenges require unprecedented cooperation with those who share in thisvision.
For centuries, the United States and much of the world have viewed Asia too narrowly—as an arena of
geopolitical competition. Today, Indo-Pacific nations are helping to define the very nature of theinternational order, and U.S. allies and partners around the world have a stake in its outcomes. Our
approach, therefore, draws from and aligns with those of our closest friends. Like Japan, we believe that a
successful Indo-Pacific vision must advance freedom and openness and offer “autonomy and options.” Wesupport a strong India as a partner in this positive regional vision. Like Australia, we seek to maintainstability and reject coercive exercises of power. Like the ROK, we aim to promote regional security throughcapacity-building. Like ASEAN, we see Southeast Asia as central to the regional architecture. Like New
Zealand and the United Kingdom, we seek to build resilience in the regional rules-based order. Like France,
we recognize the strategic value of an increasing regional role for the European Union (EU). Much like theapproach the EU has announced in its Strategy for Cooperation in the Indo-Pacific, American strategy will
be principled, long-term, and anchored in democratic resilience.
The United States will pursue five objectives in the Indo-Pacific—each in concert with our allies andpartners, as well as with regional institutions. We will:•

ADVANCE A FREE AND OPEN INDO-PACIFIC•BUILD CONNECTIONS WITHIN AND BEYOND THE REGION•

DRIVE REGIONAL PROSPERITY•

BOLSTER INDO-PACIFIC SECURITY•

BUILD REGIONAL RESILIENCE TO TRANSNATIONAL THREATS

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

7

1. ADVANCE A FREE AND OPEN
INDO-PACIFIC
Our vital interests and those of our closest partners require a free and open Indo-Pacific, where governments
can make their own sovereign choices, consistent with their obligations under international law; and whereseas, skies, and other shared domains are lawfully governed. Our strategy, therefore, begins with building
resilience within countries, as we have done in the United States. In the region, that includes our efforts to
support open societies and to ensure Indo-Pacific governments can make independent political choices freefrom coercion; we will do so through investments in democratic institutions, a free press, and a vibrant civilsociety. The United States will bolster freedom of information and expression and combat foreigninterference by supporting investigative journalism, promoting media literacy and pluralistic andindependent media, and increasing collaboration to address threats from information manipulation.
Consistent with the first-ever United States Strategy on Countering Corruption, we will also seek to improvefiscal transparency in the Indo-Pacific to expose corruption and drive reform. Through our diplomatic
engagement, foreign assistance, and work with regional organizations, the United States will be a partner instrengthening democratic institutions, the rule of law, and accountable democratic governance. And we will
work with partners to stand up to economic coercion.

“

INDO-PACIFIC NATIONS ARE HELPING TO DEFINE THE
VERY NATURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL ORDER, AND
U.S. ALLIES AND PARTNERS AROUND THE WORLDHAVE A STAKE IN ITS OUTCOMES.

Beyond individual countries’ borders, the United States will also work closely with like-minded partners toensure that the region remains open and accessible and that the region’s seas and skies are governed andused according to international law. In particular, we will build support for rules-based approaches to themaritime domain, including in the South China Sea and the East China Sea.
We will also work with partners to advance common approaches to critical and emerging technologies, theinternet, and cyber space. We will build support for an open, interoperable, reliable, and secure internet;
coordinate with partners to maintain the integrity of international standard bodies and promote consensusbased, values-aligned technology standards; facilitate the movement of researchers and open access toscientific data for cutting-edge collaboration; and work to implement the framework of responsible behavior
in cyber space and its associated norms.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

2. BUILD CONNECTIONS WITHIN AND
BEYOND THE REGION
A free and open Indo-Pacific can only be achieved if we build collective capacity for a new age; common
action is now a strategic necessity. The alliances, organizations, and rules that the United States and ourpartners have helped to build must be adapted; where needed, we must update them together. We will
pursue this through a latticework of strong and mutually reinforcing coalitions.
Those efforts begin with our closest alliances and partnerships, which we are renewing in innovative ways.
We are deepening our five regional treaty alliances—with Australia, Japan, the ROK, the Philippines, andThailand—and strengthening relationships with leading regional partners, including India, Indonesia,
Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, Vietnam, and the Pacific Islands. We will also
encourage our allies and partners to strengthen their ties with one another, particularly Japan and the ROK.
We will support and empower allies and partners as they take on regional leadership roles themselves, andwe will work in flexible groupings that pool our collective strength to face up to the defining issues of ourtime, particularly through the Quad. We will continue to strengthen Quad cooperation on global health,climate change, critical and emerging technology, infrastructure, cyber, education, and clean energy, as wework together and with other partners toward a free and open Indo-Pacific.

“

WE WILL MODERNIZE OUR LONG-STANDING
ALLIANCES, STRENGTHEN EMERGING PARTNERSHIPS,AND INVEST IN REGIONAL ORGANIZATIONS—THE
COLLECTIVE CAPACITY THAT WILL EMPOWER THE
INDO-PACIFIC TO ADAPT TO THE 21ST CENTURY’S
CHALLENGES AND SEIZE ITS OPPORTUNITIES.

The United States also welcomes a strong and independent ASEAN that leads in Southeast Asia. We endorse
ASEAN centrality and support ASEAN in its efforts to deliver sustainable solutions to the region’s mostpressing challenges. To that end, we will deepen long-standing cooperation with ASEAN while launching
new high-level engagements on health, climate and environment, energy, transportation, and gender equity
and equality. We will work with ASEAN to build its resilience as a leading regional institution and will
explore opportunities for the Quad to work with ASEAN. We will also support closer ties between South

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

9
Asian partners and ASEAN. Our own work with South Asian partners will prioritize building mechanisms toaddress humanitarian-assistance and disaster-relief needs, maritime security, water scarcity, and pandemic
response. We will seek to be an indispensable partner to Pacific Island nations, in ever-closer coordination
with other partners who share that commitment, and will meaningfully expand our diplomatic presence inSoutheast Asia and the Pacific Islands. We will also prioritize negotiations on our Compacts of Free
Association with the Freely Associated States as the bedrock of the U.S. role in the Pacific.
Allies and partners outside of the region are increasingly
committing new attention to the Indo-Pacific, particularly the
EU and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). We

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGYELEMENTS

will harness this opportunity to align our approaches and will

implement our initiatives in coordination to multiply oureffectiveness. We will partner to build regional connectivity
with an emphasis on the digital domain, as well as to uphold♦

STRATEGIC ENDS:
Advance a free and open IndoPacific that is more connected,
prosperous, secure, and resilient.

♦

STRATEGIC WAYS:
Strengthen the U.S. role and build
collective capacity with allies andpartners and with regional
institutions.

♦

STRATEGIC MEANS:
Modernized alliances; flexible
partnerships, including anempowered ASEAN, a leading
India, a strong and reliable Quad,and an engaged Europe; economic
partnership; new U.S. defense,
diplomatic, development, andforeign-assistance resources;
sustained focus on andcommitment to the region at alllevels of the U.S. government.

international law, particularly in the maritime space. Along theway, we will build bridges between the Indo-Pacific and theEuro-Atlantic, and, increasingly, with other regions, by leadingon shared agendas that drive collective action. We will also
advance our common vision through close coordination at theUnited Nations.
Our ties do not just connect our governments, but bridge ourpeople. The United States is the leading international providerof education to students from the Indo-Pacific—nearly 68% ofinternational students studying in the United States hail fromthe region—forging ties that help to fuel next-generation
dynamism in both of our countries. We will reinvigorate youthleadership, educational, and professional exchanges andEnglish-language training programs that have long anchoredour bonds, including through the Young Southeast Asian
Leaders Initiative (YSEALI). At the same time, we will promote

new partnerships for cutting-edge joint research in critical domains of science and technology, including
through the new Quad Fellowship, which will support graduate studies of Australian, Japanese, Indian, andAmerican students in STEM fields. Through these and other programs we will continue to invest in the next
generation of people-to-people connections.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

3. DRIVE INDO-PACIFIC PROSPERITY
The prosperity of everyday Americans is linked to the Indo-Pacific. We will put forward an innovative newframework to equip our economies for this moment. Our efforts are built on a strong foundation of close
economic integration. Two-way trade between the United States and the region totaled $1.75 trillion in 2020,
and it supports more than five million Indo-Pacific jobs. Foreign direct investment from the United States
totaled more than $969 billion in 2020 and has nearly doubled in the last decade. The United States remains
the number-one investment partner in ASEAN member countries—investing more than Southeast Asia’s
next three investment partners combined. And the United States is the primary exporter of services to theregion, which, in turn, fuels regional growth.
The COVID-19 pandemic has made clear the need for a recovery that promotes broad-based economic
growth. That requires investments to encourage innovation, strengthen economic competitiveness, produce
good-paying jobs, rebuild supply chains, and expand economic opportunities for middle-class families: 1.5
billion people in the Indo-Pacific will join the global middle class in this decade.
Alongside our partners, the United States will put forward an Indo-Pacific economic framework—amultilateral partnership for the 21st century. This economic framework will help our economies to harness
rapid technological transformation, including in the digital economy, and adapt to the coming energy andclimate transition. The United States will work with partners to ensure that citizens on both sides of the
Pacific reap the benefits of these historic economic changes, while deepening our integration. We willdevelop new approaches to trade that meet high labor and environmental standards and will govern our
digital economies and cross-border data flows according to open principles, including through a new digitaleconomy framework. We will work with our partners to advance resilient and secure supply chains that are
diverse, open, and predictable, while removing barriers and improving transparency and informationsharing. We will make shared investments in decarbonization and clean energy, and work in the Asia-Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) to promote free, fair, and open trade and investment, during our host year, in2023, and beyond.
We will also redouble our commitment to helping Indo-Pacific partners close the region’s infrastructure gap.
Through our Build Back Better World initiative with G7 partners, we will equip the emerging economies of

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

11
the region with the high-standards infrastructure that will enable them to grow and prosper, while creating
good jobs on both sides of the Pacific. As we do, we will promote resilient and secure global
telecommunications, focusing on 5G vendor diversification and Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN)
technology, and seeking a telecommunications supply market that is well-postured to allow for new,trustworthy entrants. We will also stand shoulder-to-shoulder with regional economic partners who areplaying leading roles in setting rules that govern 21st-century economic activity. Together, we will harness
rapid economic transformation as a common opportunity for us all.

4. BOLSTER INDO-PACIFIC SECURITY
For 75 years, the United States has maintained a strong and consistent defense presence necessary to support
regional peace, security, stability, and prosperity. The United States has been a steadfast regional ally andwill remain so in the 21st century. Today, we are extending and modernizing that role: the United States isenhancing our capabilities to defend our interests as well as to deter aggression and to counter coercion
against U.S. territory and our allies and partners.
Integrated deterrence will be the cornerstone of our approach. We will more tightly integrate our efforts
across warfighting domains and the spectrum of conflict to ensure that the United States, alongside our allies
and partners, can dissuade or defeat aggression in any form or domain. We will drive initiatives thatreinforce deterrence and counter coercion, such as opposing efforts to alter territorial boundaries orundermine the rights of sovereign nations at sea.
We will renew our focus on innovation to ensure the U.S. military can operate in rapidly evolving threat
environments, including space, cyberspace, and critical- and emerging-technology areas. We are developing
new concepts of operations, building more resilient command and control, increasing the scope andcomplexity of our joint exercises and operations, and pursuing diverse force-posture opportunities that will
strengthen our ability to operate forward and more flexibly with allies and partners.
Consistent with our broader strategic approach, we will prioritize our single greatest asymmetric strength:
our network of security alliances and partnerships. Across the region, the United States will work with allies
and partners to deepen our interoperability and develop and deploy advanced warfighting capabilities as we
support them in defending their citizens and their sovereign interests. We will continue to modernize our

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES
treaty alliances with Australia, Japan, the ROK, the Philippines, and Thailand; steadily advance our Major
Defense Partnership with India and support its role as a net security provider; and build the defense capacityof partners in South and Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands. We will also work with partners inside andoutside of the region to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, including by supporting Taiwan’s
self-defense capabilities, to ensure an environment in which Taiwan’s future is determined peacefully inaccordance with the wishes and best interests of Taiwan’s people. As we do so, our approach remains
consistent with our One China policy and our longstanding commitments under the Taiwan Relations Act,the Three Joint Communiqués, and the Six Assurances.
We will foster security ties between our allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, including
by finding new opportunities to link our defense industrial bases, integrating our defense supply chains, andco-producing key technologies that will shore up our collective military advantages. As we do, we will bring
together our Indo-Pacific and European partners in novel ways, including through the AUKUS partnership.
As the DPRK continues to develop destabilizing nuclear and missile programs, we will continue to seek
serious and sustained dialogue, with the goal of complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula andaddressing its ongoing human-rights violations and improving the lives and livelihoods of the North Korean
people. At the same time, we are strengthening extended deterrence and coordination with the ROK andJapan to respond to DPRK provocations, remaining prepared to deter—and, if necessary, defeat—any
aggression to the United States and our allies, while bolstering counter-proliferation efforts throughout theregion. While reinforcing extended deterrence against nuclear- and ballistic-missile systems and otheremerging threats to strategic stability, the United States will seek to work with a wide set of actors, including
our rivals, to prevent and manage crises.
We will also innovate to meet civilian security challenges, expanding U.S. Coast Guard presence, training,
and advising to bolster our partners’ capabilities. We will cooperate to address and prevent terrorism andviolent extremism, including by identifying and monitoring foreign fighters traveling to the region,
formulating options to mitigate online radicalization, and encouraging counterterrorism cooperation within
the Indo-Pacific. And we will strengthen collective regional capabilities to prepare for and respond toenvironmental and natural disasters; natural, accidental, or deliberate biological threats; and the trafficking
of weapons, drugs, and people. We will improve cybersecurity in the region, including the ability of ourpartners to protect against, recover from, and respond to cybersecurity incidents.

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

13

5. BUILD REGIONAL RESILIENCE TO
21ST-CENTURY TRANSNATIONAL
THREATSThe Indo-Pacific is the epicenter of the climate crisis, but it is also essential to climate solutions. Achieving
the goals of the Paris Agreement will require the major economies in the region to align their targets with theAgreement’s temperature goals. This includes urging the PRC to commit to and implement actions in linewith the level of ambition required to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Our shared responses to theclimate crisis are both a political imperative and an economic opportunity in the Indo-Pacific, home to 70%of the world’s natural disasters. The United States will work with partners to develop 2030 and 2050 targets,
strategies, plans, and policies consistent with limiting the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius,
and will seek to serve as the preferred partner as the region transitions to a net-zero future. Throughinitiatives like Clean EDGE, we will incentivize clean-energy technology investment and deployment, seek todrive energy-sector decarbonization, and foster climate-aligned infrastructure investment. The United States
will work with partners to reduce their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and environmental
degradation and will support critical-infrastructure resilience and address energy security. We will also
work to safeguard the health and sustainable use of the region’s vast oceans, including through the legal useof their resources, enhanced research cooperation, and the promotion of beneficial commerce andtransportation.
We will partner with the region to help end the COVID-19 pandemic and build resilience against common
threats. We will work closely with partners to strengthen their health systems to withstand future shocks,
drive investments in global health security, and expand regional platforms to prevent, detect, and respond to
emergencies, including biological threats. We will also work through the World Health Organization(WHO), the G7, the G20, and other multilateral fora to strengthen preparedness and response. We will
advance our resilience efforts in close coordination with ASEAN, APEC, the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF), andother organizations.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATESINDO-PACIFIC ACTION PLAN
To implement this strategy, we will pursue ten core lines of effort in the next 12 to 24 months:
DRIVE NEW RESOURCES TO THE INDO-PACIFIC
Building shared capacity requires the United States to make new regional investments. We will open newembassies and consulates, particularly in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, and increase our strength inexisting ones, intensifying our climate, health, security, and development work. We will expand U.S. Coast
Guard presence and cooperation in Southeast and South Asia and the Pacific Islands, with a focus onadvising, training, deployment, and capacity-building. We will refocus security assistance on the IndoPacific, including to build maritime capacity and maritime-domain awareness. We will also expand the roleof people-to-people exchange, including the Peace Corps. Within the U.S. government, we will ensure wehave the necessary capacity and expertise to meet the region’s challenges. Throughout, we will work with
Congress to ensure that our policy and resourcing have the bipartisan backing necessary to support ourstrong and steady regional role.

LEAD AN INDO-PACIFIC ECONOMIC FRAMEWORK
We will launch, in early 2022, a new partnership that will promote and facilitate high-standards trade,govern the digital economy, improve supply-chain resiliency and security, catalyze investment intransparent, high-standards infrastructure, and build digital connectivity—doubling down on our economic
ties to the region while contributing to broadly shared Indo-Pacific opportunity.

REINFORCE DETERRENCE
The United States will defend our interests, deter military aggression against our own country and our allies
and partners—including across the Taiwan Strait—and promote regional security by developing new
capabilities, concepts of operation, military activities, defense industrial initiatives, and a more resilient force
posture. We will work with Congress to fund the Pacific Deterrence Initiative and the Maritime Security
Initiative. Through the AUKUS partnership, we will identify the optimal pathway to deliver nuclearpowered submarines to the Royal Australian Navy at the earliest achievable date; in addition, we will deepen
cooperation and enhance interoperability through a concrete program of work on advanced capabilities,
including cyber, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, and undersea capabilities.

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

15

S TRENGTHEN AN EMPOWERED AND UNIFIED ASEAN
The United States is making new investments in U.S.-ASEAN ties, including by hosting ASEAN leaders for ahistoric U.S.-ASEAN Special Summit—the first-ever to be held in Washington, D.C. We are committed to theEast Asia Summit and ASEAN Regional Forum, and will also seek new ministerial-level engagements with
ASEAN. We will implement more than $100 million in new U.S.-ASEAN initiatives. We will also expand
bilateral cooperation across Southeast Asia, prioritizing efforts to strengthen health security, address
maritime challenges, increase connectivity, and deepen people-to-people ties.

S UPPORT INDIA’ S CONTINUED RISE AND REGIONAL LEADERSHIP
We will continue to build a strategic partnership in which the United States and India work together andthrough regional groupings to promote stability in South Asia; collaborate in new domains, such as health,space, and cyber space; deepen our economic and technology cooperation; and contribute to a free and open
Indo-Pacific. We recognize that India is a like-minded partner and leader in South Asia and the Indian
Ocean, active in and connected to Southeast Asia, a driving force of the Quad and other regional fora, and anengine for regional growth and development.

DELIVER ON THE QUAD
We will strengthen the Quad as a premier regional grouping and ensure it delivers on issues that matter tothe Indo-Pacific. The Quad will play a leading regional role on COVID-19 response and global healthsecurity, delivering on its investment to provide an additional one billion vaccines to the region and to theworld. It will advance work on critical and emerging technologies, driving supply-chain cooperation, joint
technology deployments, and advancing common technology principles. The Quad will build a green
shipping network, and will coordinate the sharing of satellite data to improve maritime domain awarenessand climate responses. Its members will cooperate to provide high-standards infrastructure in South andSoutheast Asia and the Pacific Islands and will work to improve their cyber capacity. The Quad Fellowship
will formally launch in 2022, recruiting its first class of 100 students from all four countries to pursue
graduate degrees in STEM fields in the United States beginning in 2023. The Quad will continue to meet
regularly at the leader and ministerial levels.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATESEXPAND U.S.-J APAN-ROK COOPERATION
Nearly every major Indo-Pacific challenge requires close cooperation among the United States’ allies andpartners, particularly Japan and the ROK. We will continue to cooperate closely through trilateral channels
on the DPRK. Beyond security, we will also work together on regional development and infrastructure,
critical technology and supply-chain issues, and women’s leadership and empowerment. Increasingly, we
will seek to coordinate our regional strategies in a trilateral context.

P ARTNER TO BUILD RESILIENCE IN THE PACIFIC ISLANDSThe United States will work with partners to establish a multilateral strategic grouping that supports PacificIsland countries as they build their capacity and resilience as secure, independent actors. Together, we willbuild climate resilience through the Pacific Region Infrastructure Facility; coordinate to meet the Pacific’s
infrastructure gaps, especially on information and communications technology; facilitate transportation; andcooperate to improve maritime security to safeguard fisheries, build maritime-domain awareness, andimprove training and advising. We will also prioritize finalization of the Compact of Free Associationagreements with the Freely Associated States.

S UPPORT G OOD G OVERNANCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY
We will support Indo-Pacific governments’ capacity to make independent political choices by helping
partners root out corruption, including through foreign-assistance and development policies, leadership at
the G7 and G20, and a renewed role in the Open Government Partnership. We are also partnering withgovernments, civil society, and journalists to ensure they have the capability to expose and mitigate the risks
from foreign interference and information manipulation. The United States will continue to stand up for
democracy in Burma, working closely with allies and partners to press the Burmese military to provide for a
return to democracy, including through credible implementation of the Five Point Consensus.

S UPPORT OPEN, RESILIENT, S ECURE, AND T RUSTWORTHY T ECHNOLOGIES
We will promote secure and trustworthy digital infrastructure, particularly cloud and telecommunications
vendor diversity, including through innovative network architectures such as Open RAN by encouraging atscale commercial deployments and cooperation on testing, such as through shared access to test beds toenable common standards development. We will also deepen shared resilience in critical government andinfrastructure networks, while building new regional initiatives to improve collective cybersecurity andrapidly respond to cyber incidents.

INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES

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CONCLUSION
We have entered a consequential new period of American foreign policy that will demand more of theUnited States in the Indo-Pacific than has been asked of us since the Second World War. Our vital interestsin the region have become ever-clearer just as they have become more difficult to protect; we will not havethe luxury of choosing between power politics and combatting transnational threats; we will rise to ourleadership charge on diplomacy, security, economics, climate, pandemic response, and technology.
The Indo-Pacific’s future depends on the choices we make now. The decisive decade before us will
determine if the region can confront and address climate change, reveal how the world rebuilds from a oncein-a-century pandemic, and decide whether we can sustain the principles of openness, transparency, andinclusivity that have fueled the region’s success. If, together with our partners, we can reinforce the region
for 21st-century challenges and seize its opportunities, the Indo-Pacific will thrive, bolstering the UnitedStates and the world.

“

AS WE ENTER A DECISIVE DECADE THAT HOLDSCONSIDERABLE PROMISE AND HISTORIC OBSTACLESFOR THE INDO-PACIFIC, THE AMERICAN ROLE IN
THE REGION MUST BE MORE EFFECTIVE AND
ENDURING THAN EVER.

Our considerable strategic ambitions derive from the belief that no region will be of more consequence to theworld and to everyday Americans than the Indo-Pacific—and that the United States and our allies andpartners hold a common vision for it. By pursuing a strategy whose foundational pillars are shared, and bystrengthening the region’s capacity to realize them, the United States can lead with others toward an IndoPacific that is free and open, connected, prosperous, secure, and resilient for generations to come.

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INDO-PACIFIC STRATEGY OF THE UNITED STATES