A Study On The Development Of US-australia Alliance From The Perspective Of “Indo-Pacific”

Alliance is one of the most common phenomena in international politics.It is also a type of international actor with profound influence on regional security.In recent years,the emerging geopolitical concept “Indo-Pacific” has been gradually accepted and applied by major powers.Under this new geographical perspective,US-Australia Alliance as an important part of the US regional alliance system has been further developed,and its connotation has been expanded and deepened with the developments of international situations.Australia is playing an increasingly significant role in the US regional security strategy.Firstly,the paper reviews the foundation and conditions for strengthening the US-Australia Alliance based on historical materials.Born in the World War II,cooperation between the two countries has been continuously developing in different historical periods.For one thing,common threats and common identity as western countries constitute the two objective bases by providing a natural emotional foundation and cooperation goals to the alliance.For another,strong diplomatic,military and economic relations served as necessary conditions,which should be attributed to the well-performed consultation mechanism and legal system gradually established after the formation of the alliance and a long history of joint actions.Secondly,with the introduction of “Indo-Pacific” as a new geopolitical perspective,the paper elaborates on the historical background of the strengthening of the Alliance by combing the process in which “Indo-Pacific” gradually evolved from a geographical concept to a geopolitical discourse paradigm.Then,several common goals of the strengthening of the Alliance are analyzed.Thirdly,the implementation path of strengthening the Alliance is analyzed from multiple dimensions,such as policy coordination,defense cooperation and participation in regional construction.The military nature of the US-Australia alliance has been greatly enhanced,with cooperation in emerging areas such as the use of common bases,troop building,joint military exercises,defense trade,and space and cyberspace greatly enhanced.At the same time,the United States and Australia have designed cooperation plans on intervention of regional hotspot issues obviously targeted at China.Fourthly,the geographical influence brought by the strengthening of the Alliance is analyzed and evaluated.Connotations of the Alliance will be further deepened with the change of times,accompanied by adjustments and restructuring the US regional alliance system for a more flexible and diversified cooperation network system.Meanwhile,it will seriously threaten the security and stability of the Indo-Pacific region and may trigger a new round of arms race in the region.What‘s more,it will also have a far-reaching impact on major-country relations,with both China-US and China-Australia relations facing downward risks.Finally,relevant countermeasures to the strengthening of this alliance are proposed.To properly deal with such issues as the strengthening and restructuring of the US regional alliance system and the enhancement of regional military forward presence by the US and Australia,China should: first,properly handle bilateral relations with the US and Australia by expanding areas of cooperation and common interests;second,accelerate the modernization of the armed forces so as to effectively safeguard national security and overseas interests;third,remain committed to building a new type of partnership and pursuing win-win cooperation with other countries.