Securing the 'Rules Based Order' in the Indo Pacific: The Significance of Strategic Narrative

The rules-based order is under challenge on a number of fronts. China as a rising power is naturally a major challenger, and its rise has created significant uncertainty about the kind of order that will prevail within the Indo-Pacific into the future. Other external forces at play — from the shifting nature and multipolar distribution of power across the region, to the emergence of new demands and sites for political contest, and the impact of new threats including climate change — are all exerting different pressures on the rules-based order.