When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said, “Because that’s where the money is.” The Indo-Pacific is of vital importance to U.S. national security because that is where the power is. A state’s power is determined by many factors, but skilled population size and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) are often used as the two key ones. Both are in abundance in the Indo-Pacific. In the region, there is about 60% of the world’s population and approximately half of the world’s GDP. In addition, the major states of the Indo-Pacific, India, Japan, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), South Korea, and Taiwan, are centers of industrial might, possess world-leading IT and AI, and have advanced military capabilities.
Those military capabilities are formidable. In this region, there are six nuclear powers: the U.S., PRC, North Korea, Russia, India, and Pakistan. We might live to see a day when Japan and South Korea are added to that list. Moreover, there is massive conventional military power, whether that is landpower, seapower, airpower, or cyberpower, located in the Indo-Pacific.
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