Excerpt from lowyinstitute.org
Locals sometimes get so used to the scenery that they forget to marvel at the sights. This isn’t just true for people that live in beautiful holiday spots. The same tendency can hamper analysts focused on international affairs.
It’s easy, for example, to see the Indo-Pacific as a scatter of distant landmasses and island chains. Yet an unexpected work trip to France recently offered me a clearer view of the region’s richness and potential. A few weeks ago I was privileged to join the 5th International Session for the Indo-Pacific at the invitation of France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Institute for Advanced Studies in National Defence. In a week-long program alongside 54 senior military and government officials, academics and policy experts from across the region – from East Africa to the Pacific Islands – I was struck not by our diversity but by how quickly a shared sense of purpose took shape.