Home to more than half of the world’s people, nearly two-thirds of the world’s economy, and seven of the world’s largest militaries, the Indo-Pacific has been called the world’s economic and geopolitical “center of gravity.” With more than 30 years of expertise and trusted engagement in the region, the Stimson Center provides unparalleled research and analysis on historic tensions and emerging challenges across the Indo-Pacific.
As China grows in relative power, the world is closely watching China’s geopolitical, economic, and security moves. Stimson experts work to assess China’s strategic intentions and foreign policy behaviors to provide a fresh and objective look at China’s interaction with the world.
In recent years, the Taiwan Strait has emerged as one of the most volatile flashpoints in the Indo-Pacific. Amid increasing military tensions, economic dependencies, and Taiwan’s limited participation in international organizations, Stimson experts are shaping the policy discourse to inform decisionmaking and prevent conflict as they highlight the outsized role that Taiwan plays in regional and global affairs.
Nowhere is the risk of strategic instability and nuclear exchange greater than in South Asia. Stimson’s work across South Asia and the Indo-Pacific designs uncommon platforms to explore crisis triggers, mitigate risks, and cultivate respectful dialogue and debate across India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and beyond to support strategic stability in South Asia.
As a long-standing actor in both Indo-Pacific dynamics and Western foreign policy frameworks, Japan and South Korea have critical strategic importance to help broker new opportunities for East-West relations. Stimson scholars are creating new opportunities for public discourse and policy dialogue, building off of two decades of trusted engagement on Northeast Asia.
Southeast Asia sits at the heart of the Indo-Pacific and is a premier area of great power competition with a growing range of policy needs. Through proprietary tools like our award-winning Mekong Dam Monitor, Stimson experts engage key stakeholders to promote sustainable growth, peace, and security across Southeast Asia.
Stimson experts go beyond the status quo to separate fact from fiction in the Indo-Pacific. Through platforms like 38 North, which works to uncover North Korea’s strategic intentions across the region and globally, Stimson scholars are using investigative reporting to challenge assumptions and provide deeper insights. Through our signature evidence-based analysis and regional research, Stimson is fostering a more nuanced understanding of the complex dynamics in the region, uncovering truths that might be overlooked by conventional narratives.
The global implications of Great Power dynamics in the Indo-Pacific cannot be overstated. Stimson experts work across disciplines to interrogate long-held assumptions about strategic alliances, force, and influence in our collective effort to build a fuller picture of the global and regional dynamics across the Indo-Pacific.
Experts explore the impediments to a US-led Indo-Pacific alliance and what’s needed to overcome the geographic hurdles to create regional military coalitions.
Drawing on contributions from next-gen scholars, Siebens’s book offers lessons about when, how, why, and to what effect China has used its armed forces in recent decades, to gain insight about its intentions and approaches to the use of force in the future.
NATO’s tilt toward the Indo-Pacific could spark the very conflict the alliance is seeking to defuse, says Stimson Center Senior Fellow Kelly Grieco.
The Pacific Ocean is home to some 20,000 – 30,000 islands, from the populous Indonesia to Nauru, the world’s smallest island nation. Stimson’s work explores the unique challenges and vulnerabilities faced by islands in the Indo-Pacific, including predatory and unsustainable fishing practices by China, and the existential threat of rising sea levels and extreme weather events.
Stimson’s signature CORVI assessment identifies significant ecological and financial vulnerabilities for the Pacific island of Tarawa, Kiribati.
IUU fishing threatens the food, ecological, and economic security of coastal communities in Southeast Asia’s seascapes. A 2023 piece published in Asia Policy offers government recommendations to counter these predatory and abusive fishing practices.
Among its innovative approaches to this hard target problem set is the use of commercial satellite imagery to glean unique and real-time insights of activities that impact North Korea’s weapons of mass destruction program (WMD) development.
Commercial satellite imagery of the Sohae Satellite Launching Station hours prior to the launch reveal indicates continued activity as North Korea continues their efforts to modernize their space launch program.
The Military Dialogue represents a standout example of exchange in a narrowing window of interaction, mutual understanding, and crisis management.
Restoring Deterrence
Deterrence in Southern Asia
"Subcommittee Chairman Van Hollen, Ranking Member Romney and distinguished members of the Subcommittee, it is a distinct honor to be able to testify this afternoon, about the growing challenges to security on the Korean Peninsula."
How a smart "away game" can save Mekong Delta
“Seeing something like this unfolding and having Chinese missiles landing in Japan’s economic zone may actually accelerate the argument for a more rapid increase in defense spending."
"Elizabeth Threlkeld, a former U.S. diplomat in Pakistan now with the Stimson Center think tank, said negotiating a new IMF deal was the number one-priority for a new government.
'Any prolonged political uncertainty would complicate that process at a time when Pakistan can ill-afford delays,' she said."
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