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The US National Security Strategy of 2022 introduced a relatively new concept of Integrated Deterrence (ID) that will likely impact security discourse amongst global rivals such as the US, China, and Russia while affecting the strategic thinking of relatively smaller powers like India, Pakistan, and others. With an expanded scope and objectives, ID aims to build and integrate the entire spectrum of capabilities of the US, its allies, and partners against the perceived threat from China and possibly Russia. Resultantly, the paper focuses on implications of ID for security and strategic stability in South Asia. India, being a major strategic partner with the will to play a significant role in the US-led China containment strategy, is likely to be a major beneficiary of the new US posture of ID. With enhanced and integrated military capabilities, India is likely to adopt a more hostile posture towards its neighbours, especially Pakistan, thus forcing the latter to develop options in the form of 'Integrated Response', to help maintain strategic stability in the region without indulging in an arms race, and by maintaining neutrality in the evolving US-China great power competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world is drawn increasingly into a web of shifting geopolitics, battle lines are being drawn and alliances are re-orienting themselves. Working from the premise that the competition between the United States (U.S.) and the People's Republic of China will define the dynamics of the international system for the foreseeable future, this paper takes a look at the U.S.'s evolving posture of Integrated Deterrence and the likely Chinese response, which would have implications for Asian security. It reviews the contours of 'Integrated Deterrence' as it is laid out in the U.S. National Security Strategy 2022 and how this may shape the policy decisions of the U.S. and its partners, especially Taiwan, as well as how major U.S. regional allies, including India are likely to play their role in support of the U.S. interests. The paper also analyses China's strategic thinking, national defence policy and national security objectives that are likely to influence its choices in the evolving great power competition. Taking Taiwan as the case study, the paper finds that in addition to pursuing more traditional approaches, both the U.S. and China will consider influencing domestic public opinion in China and Taiwan as a key focus of their respective policy considerations; it also finds convergences in the related responses of South Asia's two major players, India and Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]