After months of speculation and anticipation, Bangladesh has unveiled its ‘Indo-Pacific outlook’(IPO) that ‘envisions a free, open, peaceful, secure, and inclusive Indo- Pacific for the shared prosperity for all.’ The United States, which originally conceived and floated the Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) and has been urging Bangladesh for the last few years to join them in implementing the IPS. Though Bangladesh doesn’t use the term strategy or IPS, the vision it lays out is remarkably similar to the IPS.  If we review the joint statement made on June 2, 2022 after the Second Bangladesh - US High-Level Economic Consultation held in Washington, it would be difficult to differentiate the language. The joint statement under the subhead Infrastructure/ Trade reads,”Both countries share a common vision of a free, open, inclusive, peaceful, and secure Indo-Pacific region with shared prosperity for all.”   These words have been repeated innumerable times by the US officials to def...