Image: Sino-India Rivalry in South Asia: The Politics of Strategic Hedging by the “Non-Nuclear Five”

Flags of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries flutter outside the venue of the forthcoming SAARC summit in Islamabad, 01January 2004 which is due to take place 4-6 January 2004. South Asian nations formed the regional grouping in hopes of turning the home of half the world's poor into an economic powerhouse, but the two-decade old alliance has proved ineffectual thanks to bickering between India and Pakistan. AFP PHOTO/Farooq NAEEM (Photo by Farooq NAEEM / AFP) (Photo by FAROOQ NAEEM/AFP via Getty Images)

U.S. Approach to Strategic Partnerships

Published April 13, 2026
By HAF A5SM

TOPIC SPONSOR: HAF A5SM

What are strategies that can be used to enhance the Department's approach to strategic security, economic, and technology partnerships in the Asia-Pacific region?

Bishop, Dalene, "China's Claim to the South China Sea: Legal Legitimacy, Historical Justifications and Geopolitical Implications," AFGC thesis, 2025, 41 pgs.
- Bishop argues that unilateral military actions like FONOPs have limited strategic deterrent value unless they are paired with diplomacy and coalition-building. To enhance its approach, the U.S. must promote the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" (FOIP) strategy and strengthen integrated security ties with regional partners like the Philippines, Vietnam, Japan, and Australia. Furthermore, Bishop recommends leveraging multilateral strategic forums like the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad)—which includes the U.S., India, Japan, and Australia—to collaborate on maritime security and counter China's Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) threats reaching into the Second Island Chain.
Judd, Maj. Colby D., "Asymmetry in the West," AFGC thesis, 2025, 41 pgs.
- Judd emphasizes that the US cannot overcome the "tyranny of distance" in the Pacific without significantly expanding its network of regional allies. He recommends building out the "hub-and-spoke" model of alliances. By expanding the spokes (treaty allies like Japan, Thailand, Australia, South Korea, and the Philippines) surrounding Taiwan and China, the US can secure distributed basing locations across multiple axes and apply coordinated diplomatic and economic pressure in the "gray zone" below the threshold of conflict.
Reynolds, Rachel L., "Leapfrogs and Shortcuts: Paths to Technological Performance on US and Chinese Strategic Evolutionary Landscapes," SAASS thesis, 2020, 101 pgs.
- Subsequently published as the AU Press Drew Paper, "Leapfrogs and Shortcuts: Paths to Technological Performance on US and Chinese Strategic Evolutionary Landscapes," (2024)
Small, Maj. Robert, "US Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Hybrid Approach to Consider Interdependence," ACSC elective paper (Asia Rebalance), 2020, 22 pgs.