Free and Open Indo-Pacific, features and limits of a model of regional order.

The competition between two models of regional order, a US-led Free and Open Indo Pacific, and a Sino-centric order led by Beijing, is at the heart of contemporary great power politics. This article discusses the main features and the main limits of FOIP as promoted by the Trump and Biden administrations. FOIP entails a coherent approach based on an attempt to promote US leadership, cooperation among regional democracies and the centrality of international law. However, significantly different positions compared with local allies and partners on the role and the status of China and different perspectives on multilateralism and sovereignty might undermine the US efforts to build consensus around its project of regional order.