© Sputnik/ Michael Klimentyev
The Russian President is long overdue for a visit to one of the centerpiece regions of the emerging Indo-Pacific century, and the overlap of infrastructure, trade, and institutional interests there should give President Putin more than enough reasons to seriously consider taking a trip to South Asia.
Global politics have been steadily shifting eastward over the years as international affairs increasingly take on an
Asian tone, though the prevailing sentiment has been that the Pacific region will dominate in the coming future. While there's plenty of evidence to suggest that East and Southeast Asia will increase their global importance all across this century, comparatively less has been said about the future potential of South Asia and the broader Indian Ocean region.
In fact, it can be confidently argued that the 21st century won't just be about the Asia-Pacific, but rather the Indo-Pacific, because these two areas of the world are interconnected and becoming geopolitically inseparable.The maritime portion of China's
One Belt One Road vision of global connectivity heavily depends on the Indian Ocean for facilitating trade between the People's Republic and its Mideast, European, and African partners, with the game-changing flagship project of
CPEC functioning as a convenient mainland shortcut for expediting commerce to China by means of the state-of-the-art overland routes being built all across Pakistan. Similarly, India is forecast to maintain steady and impressive growth throughout the coming years, thereby giving it enormous market potential and economic influence.
Comment: Further reading: The 'Year of Trump': Risks and opportunities for 2017