Power Politics in the Indo-Pacific and the Strategic Role of Small Maritime States

By Anto Mariya M M

The Indo-Pacific has become the world’s central theatre of geopolitics, where major powers compete for influence and dominance. The region is critical for global trade, energy security, and strategic influence. However, small maritime states are often overlooked, yet they can play a bigger role than their size suggests. These small states facilitate critical shipping lanes, hold the keys to the vast oceans, and offer outposts that bigger states desperately seek to control (Ekrema, 2025). With a geographical advantage due to their strategic location and vast maritime zones, they help major players project power and shape regional influence. These small maritime states are not passive players but have a strategic role at the critical juncture of global geopolitics.

Power Politics in the Indo-Pacific

The Indo-Pacific region witnesses a geopolitical rivalry between the United States and China. The region’s security architecture depends on alliances, military posturing, and economic influence. The strategies of individual key state actors help to examine the broader power dynamics in the Indo-Pacific. China asserts its economic leverage through the Belt and Road Initiative, infrastructure investments in smaller states, and military power in the region. The United States gains leverage using alliances such as the Quad and AUKUS to deter Chinese influence in the Indo-Pacific. In India's case, it aims to counter China by aspiring to become a ‘Net Security Provider’ in the region. Middle powers, such as Australia and Japan, try to integrate with the US security architecture through minilaterals, such as AUKUS and Quad. The diverging strategies of the different powers in the region showcase the complexity of power politics and the tough terrain that small states must navigate.

Strategic Importance of Small Maritime States

Small maritime states are island and littoral states in the Indo-Pacific, such as Tuvalu, Palau, Kiribati, Dominica, Mauritius, Seychelles, and the Maldives, which have smaller landmasses and populations. They are often ranked lower in the global power structures. The small maritime states are often strategically located near vital shipping routes and maritime chokepoints. They garner control over massive maritime zones and marine resources within them. Their Exclusive Economic Zones provide control over vast ocean areas, making them critical for fisheries, surveillance, and sea lane security. They aid major players in projecting power by hosting warships, refuelling stations, and many security facilities. As radars, anti-ship missiles and fighter jets now need only smaller land to operate with the help of modern technology. For instance, the US heavily relies on Guam and Diego Garcia in the Indo-Pacific (Ekrema, 2025). Major powers need access to these small states’ ports and logistics support facilities. In return, the small maritime states ask for economic aid and diplomatic favors from the larger powers. The decisions on who gets access to the base by the small maritime states shape the regional balance of power. Their votes in international forums, access to maritime routes, and willingness to host foreign projects influence geopolitical contests in the Indo-Pacific (Malji, 2025).

Case Studies: Solomon Islands and Maldives

The case studies of the Solomon Islands and the Maldives explore how small maritime states navigate great power competition and the power politics at play in the Indo-Pacific region. The Solomon Islands, an island nation in the South Pacific, undertook a major realignment in 2019 by severing diplomatic ties with Taiwan and recognizing the PRC. In 2022, it signed a security agreement with China that poses a threat to the US and Australia because of its location and proximity to the ‘second island chain’(Khan, 2023). The island nation in the South Pacific has thus become a critical test of the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Solomon Islands’ diplomatic switch altered the regional security environment in the Pacific.

The Maldives is a neighboring state of India, and historically, India has been its defence partner, providing support through patrol vessels and connectivity projects. However, the Maldives has deepened its ties with China through BRI investments. The India Out’ Campaign in the Maldives further strained ties with India, but relations are now being recalibrated. It is evident that the Maldives has taken a balancing act, with economic dependence on China and security reliance on India despite its non-alignment policy. The case studies depict how small maritime states maneuver through both the US-China and China-India rivalries.

Challenges to Small Maritime States

Small maritime states face challenges in playing a strategic role. Climate change is an existential threat to island and littoral states, inhibiting their sovereign decision-making and affecting their populations’ habitability. There is a risk of security dependencies that threaten state autonomy as external military presence deepens in the state. Economic vulnerability increases with debt traps and dependence on external aid from foreign countries. Internal instability, including protests and legitimacy crises, arises when foreign alignments clash with domestic sentiments.

Strategic Implications

Small maritime states are not passive but are strategic actors in the power politics of the Indo-Pacific. They manage the cross-pressures of sovereignty, development needs and external strategic competition. As these small states decide who gets access to what, they can shape the regional power structure and influence the great power competition. Therefore, these small islands and littoral states in geostrategic locations can be more than just pawns on the geopolitical chessboard.

Conclusion

The small maritime states in the critical Indo-Pacific region are vulnerable but not powerless. With an outsized geographical advantage, they can be 'small giants' who exercise weightage in regional security dynamics, as the strategic choices made by small maritime states collectively reshape the Indo-Pacific security architecture. While these states are smaller in size, they can have a significant impact on geopolitics.

Anto Mariya M M is a student of M.A. Political Science, Madras Christian College. The views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Kalinga Institute of Indo-Pacific Studies.