Search

This paper examines how China's presence in the East African seaports has created a threat to the Indian Ocean's security. In particular, the research empirically analyses whether China's growing activities in the Western Indian Ocean along the East African coast have dismantled the security architecture of the Indo-Pacific. This paper aims to understand the responses of India and her allies in containing China's rise in the region. The paper has taken three East African ports, Dar es Salaam, Lamu, and Doraleh port of Djibouti, as a case study to examine how Chinese presence in these three ports could dismantle the security architecture of Indo-Pacific in the Western Indian Ocean region. The paper demonstrates that the present competition of power projection in the Indian Ocean is a power maximization strategy for the national security of each state. Using primary and secondary data available on China, India, and other states' policies and activities, the study finds that it is a policy failure of the Indo-Pacific, accelerating China's rise in the region. However, the Indo-Pacific partners are revamping their policies to check China's rise in the Indian Ocean region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper investigates the evolving defense cooperation between India and Japan in the context of the strategic landscape in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly considering China's rise. The existing literature recognizes China's increasing influence as a significant factor in India-Japanese security cooperation, but tends to overlook the dynamics behind India's shifting stance. The study reveals that India initially hesitated to actively engage in anti-China security cooperation with Japan until the mid-2010s, but later adopted a more proactive partnership. An analysis of policy documents, political speeches, and government records attributes India's initial reluctance to its commitment to non-alignment and strategic autonomy, its desire to balance relations with both China and Japan, and its domestic political priorities favoring economic development over military expansion or strategic alliances. However, growing concerns over China's assertiveness, military modernization, a change in political leadership, and the Quad's development as a regional security platform have prompted India's attitude shift. The research's recommendations not only offer a roadmap for India, Japan, and other Indo-Pacific countries with deep economic ties to China, but also help combat China's military threats to contribute to regional stability and security, address common challenges, and foster a peaceful and prosperous Indo-Pacific region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's trading ties with Southeast Asian nations started in ancient times, sustained during the colonial times and later rekindled in the post-Cold War era. Since India embarked on major economic reforms in 1991, economic partnership had been important in India's engagements with ASEAN. Nevertheless, the multipolar world of the 21st century had also given rise to new emerging geopolitical realities that inevitably influence the economic domain of the partnership. The main issue this article attempts to address is how in a multipolar world, China influences India's strategic partnership with ASEAN. The main objective of this endeavour is to highlight the key global dynamics in view of China's rise mainly related to the Indo-Pacific that shape India's partnership with ASEAN; and the opportunities for ASEAN in its ties with India moving forward. This is analysed from the conceptual framework of strategic hedging to highlight how the US-China competition of the post-Cold War era influences the foreign policy outlook of India, shaping India's approach towards ASEAN. The methodology employed for this analysis is a qualitative analysis of primary data obtained from official publications of government websites and portals. Analysis is undertaken chronologically and further substantiated with secondary data from scholarly works, as well as news articles. The findings reveal that since independence, China has featured strongly in India's geopolitical strategies and therefore China's strong economic footprints within ASEAN have much bearing on India's policies towards ASEAN. Nevertheless, India's strengthening partnership with the major powers of the world within the Indo-Pacific framework also has the potential for spin-off effects for ASEAN's economic as well as strategic benefits. In conclusion, the developments related to the Indo-Pacific in view of China's rise, indicate a positive outlook for India-ASEAN partnership which ASEAN could leverage on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]