SPAIS Lunchtime Talks are a chance to hear SPAIS lecturers and researchers offer their take on some of the big issues of the day. Talks will draw on their research and expertise, inviting us to think critically about events and ideas shaping popular discourse on politics and international relations today. Talks will last approximately 25 minutes, followed by a Q&A session. 

This talk asks ‘what should the UK consider in its security strategy in the Indo-Pacific?’ The UK’s future defence strategy, as laid out in its recent Integrated Review, envisions a ‘tilt’ to focus on the Indo-Pacific region. To support this, the UK is strengthening defence partnerships through new mechanisms (AUKUS) and old arrangements (Five Power Defence Arrangement). It is also committing Naval resources to the region, sending aircraft carriers through contested waters and smaller patrol vessels to combat differing forms of maritime insecurity. But deeper engagement with the region beyond a focus on countering China, is currently lacking, and the focus on the Navy as the sole vehicle for the tilt has the potential to prove problematic. In this talk, I consider what these problems might be, and aim to contribute to the vision of what an Indo-Pacific tilt should look like