인도태평양 전략과 신남방정책의 협력 방향 (Exploring Convergence between the New Southern Policy and U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy: From Korea's Perspective)

아세안과 인도를 둘러싼 강대국간 경쟁이 심화되면서 한국의 신남방정책과 미국의 인도태평양 전략 간 협력에 대한 대내외적 관심이 높아지고 있다. 본 연구는 인도태평양 전략에 대한 아세안과 인도의 입장과 대응을 분석하여 신남방정책과 인도태평양 전략 협력 추진 시 고려해야 할 전략적 함의를 제시하였다. 또한 신남방국가들의 협력 수요 분석을 기반으로 한·미 협력이 유망한 협력 분야와 주요 정책 과제들을 제시하였다. Given its geostrategic position and growing importance in the world economy, the Indo-Pacific region has attracted many major powers to actively engage with the region. With the unveiling of the New Southern Policy (NSP) in 2017, Korea has also sought to upgrade its relations with ASEAN and India by boosting economic ties, socio-cultural exchanges and cooperation in the area of peace and security. While an earlier version of the NSP focused on bilateral cooperation with targeted countries, it gradually began to explore opportunities to collaborate with other players in addressing the needs of ASEAN and India. In particular, as the United States seeks cooperation with its key allies in forging the Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy (FOIP), there has been growing interest in the search for convergence between the FOIP and the NSP. Initially, the Korean government took an ambiguous stance toward the U.S.’s new policy, but in 2019 the two governments agreed to work together by building synergies between the NSP and the FOIP. Nevertheless, given the strategic nature of the FOIP as a counterbalance to China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the attendant concerns in Southeast Asia about being embroiled in U.S.-China rivalry, close collaboration with the FOIP poses some challenges for the NSP, whose primary objective is to win the heart of targeted countries and steer toward stronger cooperation with them. Against this backdrop, this report presents suggestions on how the NSP could cooperate with the FOIP in ways that suit the interests of ASEAN and India. The policy recommendation is based on analyzing how the FOIP is received by NSP-targeted countries and the cooperation needs of this region. (the rest omitted)