Indo-Pacific strategy shouldn't be made in USA

China should unite forces from all sides and participate in making an Indo-Pacific strategy that's away from global consensus, experts said at an online seminar held by the Weihai-based Global Engagement Academy of Shandong University on Saturday.

"Indo-Pacific strategy is far from mature that each party has a different expression at the moment," He Weiwen said, a senior fellow at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies, Renmin University of China.

Holding a similar view with He, Pang Zhongying, a distinguished professor at the Institute of Marine Development of Ocean University of China, said that a US initiated Indo-Pacific strategy should not be the framework for the Indian Ocean. As a regional player, China should work with other countries to form a win-win Indo-Pacific strategy.

Unlike the outgoing US President Donald Trump, President-elect Joe Biden may promote a "safe and prosperous Indo-Pacific" rather than a "free and open Indo-Pacific".

Yet the Biden administration will hardly change the US fundamental strategy that defines China as a main rival, said Wang Pengquan, an associate researcher at Shandong University.

As the United States may make more efforts to bring more allies under the banner of Indo-Pacific strategy against China, experts at the forum suggested the importance of China's cooperation, particularly with ASEAN and European Union.

Sun Kai, deputy head at the School of International Affairs and Public Administration, Ocean University of China, said China can make a breakthrough in Southeast Asia, where countries are reluctant to take either side between the two superpowers.

Located in Eurasia, the role of the EU in the Indo-Pacific region also should be given greater importance, said Wang Yiwei, a professor of international studies at Renmin University of China, and that China should have more third-party collaboration with the EU in this region.

Ma Jianying, an associate professor at the School of Public Administration, Shandong Normal University, said the US may further manipulate Taiwan as chess piece to put forward its Indo-Pacific strategy.

"For regional safety and prosperity, China should raise questions about the legitimacy of the US, a country outside of Indo-Pacific region, in intervening in the area," said Jia Wenshan, head of the Global Engagement Academy that held the online forum and an adjunct professor of Intercultural Communication and Global Studies Shandong University.