In Indo-Pacific, the slow and steady growth of Indian power

In the Quad, while the US proposed a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” (FOIP) as the motto, Modi suggested Free, Open and “Inclusive” Indo-Pacific — FOIIP — leaving some ambiguity over the question of exclusion of any country. 4 min readJul 31, 2026 07:26 PM IST First published on: Jul 31, 2026 at 07:26 PM IST Is India emerging as the third power in the Indo-Pacific Region (IOR) alongside the US and China? India’s interests in the IOR are not new. But in the past decade, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has substantially increased engagement with the countries in the region. He has participated in the ASEAN-India Summits 12 times, East Asia Summits nine times, visited Japan eight times, Singapore five times, Indonesia four times and Australia three times. He has been present at all six QUAD leader-