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Climate induced geo-physical transformations occurring in the Arctic are also attributing to geopolitical transformations of the region. Opening up of the Arctic is resulting in a geopolitical race amongst the Arctic and non-Arctic states to dominate emerging economic and strategic opportunities in the region. Transformations in the Arctic assume global links and possess a potential of significantly impacting the Arctic as well as the Asian states. China's assertiveness to become a Polar Great Power has set a course for new Asian perceptions towards the region. In pursuits of its economic, environmental, scientific, social and strategic endeavours, China is making significant inroads in the region to meet its short and long-term objectives. This paper makes an attempt to reconsider India's approach towards the Arctic not by taking China as a benchmark, but rather as a useful backdrop to broaden and deepen India's engagements in the circumpolar north. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are a vital source for India's energy requirements and home to a large population of Indian workers. Although for quite some time now, India's strategic influence in the Gulf region has been overshadowed by Pakistan, recent developments seem to present India with an opportunity to expand its influence led by maritime security cooperation. However, the growth of Chinese economic and political influence in the region presents some tough challenges. This paper examines India's extant security ties with the GCC countries and their relations with China, with an aim to make a relative assessment of India's strategic influence and discusses the prospects for India's position in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China is the primary cause of changing strategic dynamics in Asia. China's growing economic, military and political weight is shaping regional and individual destinies of its neighbours, particularly in Southeast Asia. Despite the academic debate over its future, Chinese influence is burgeoning and this has major implications for other Asian powers such as India, Japan, Russia, and the offshore balancer, the United States. This paper examines Chinese strategic gains in the Southeast Asian region in the areas of trade, regional diplomacy and cross-border connectivity. It also seeks to understand why India, unlike China, has not managed to integrate as closely with Southeast Asia despite using policies similar to that of China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Indo-Pacific has emerged as an important region in international politics where the major powers are deeply engaged in reshaping the security architecture. Over the last few years, India and China have drawn their policies by employing competitive strategies that strengthen as well as neutralise their respective power positions in the Indian Ocean Region, particularly in South Asia and the South China Sea. China's "String of Pearls" strategy and the "Belt and Road Initiative" undermine India's influence in the Indian Ocean Region, where the changing geo-economic and geostrategic imperatives pose threat to its interests. This mounts pressure on New Delhi to respond by pursuing counter-strategies to secure its interests in the Indo-Pacific region. The article further explains how India and the United States' interests are converging against an assertive China in the Indo-Pacific and how the two states' security and maritime collaborations are balancing their common rival by maintaining a favourable status quo in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's unprecedented economic rise and its growing military profile have transformed the threat matrix for India. China is challenging India's interests in its immediate neighbourhood in multiple ways. Managing strategic challenge from China, therefore, has become a topmost foreign policy priority for India. The article argues that given the structural constraints of New Delhi-Beijing rapprochement, there is an urgent need for India to step up quadrilateral security cooperation with the U.S., Japan and Australia. The revival of the Quad reflects this growing consensus. However, India's hedging approach – simultaneously balancing and engaging with China – may be politically expedient in the short run, but not without long-term adverse consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India–Japan security cooperation is a critical component in the evolving security mechanism of the Indo-Pacific region. Both states are secondary states in the international system that opposes one country's emergence as a regional hegemon. China's rise and her ambition to dominate the Indo-Pacific would affect the security interests of India and Japan. The U.S., the current preponderant power in the region, seems unable to contain China by itself. So it is looking for strategic partnerships with regional countries who are militarily capable of challenging China, and persuading them to balance China. In this regard, the two powerful states in China's own backyard – Japan in the western Pacific and India in the Indian Ocean – have come together to counter the Chinese hegemony in the Indo-Pacific. In this effort, they have gradually built up naval cooperation sans a formal military alliance. They follow soft balancing strategies over hard balancing ones because neither wants to antagonise China. Similarly both countries seek to expand their presence through mutual cooperation beyond South-east Asia. This article explains the nature and context of soft power balancing strategies and the manner in which the India–Japan maritime security cooperation has evolved over the last two decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From China's perspective, border disputes, India's strategic cooperation with other major powers and security competition between China and India in IOR are the main factors shaping Sino-India relations. China believes that border disputes is difficult to resolve but largely manageable, India is wary of joining forces with US and other major powers to contain China, and the two countries can still seek coexistence in IOR even though India is concerned about China's growing influence in this region. China is implementing a counter-hedging strategy towards India that features active engagement with India on one hand and a certain level of security pressures on India on the other hand. To prevent these three problems from becoming more serious and exacerbating the Sino-Indian contradiction, China find it necessary to pay more attention on engagement with India and come up with more diplomatic resources and policy inputs in handling the bilateral relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ASEAN will form on December 31, 2015, the ASEAN Community, which will try to integrate 10 very heterogeneous countries into “one family”. On one hand, historical developments and security concerns led to a rather nationalistic position of the individual countries, and on the other, developments related to “non-traditional security” (NTS) issues are forcing a rethinking of hard-line positions in favour of a regional maritime approach. Whilst in many political and academic circles the term “regional resilience” is regularly used, the understanding ranges from the interpretation that this is a new Chinese wording for justifying the increase of the military and maritime power of the country, via the claim that the “new” security approaches are just emerging after the end of the Cold War, to the differentiating theory debate about different political approaches to international relations and the NTS issues. This article explores the historical development of NTS threats and then addresses some risks for the ASEAN Community 2015 as well as providing answers to the ASEAN 2015 three-pillar strategy of the ASEAN Political–Security Community (APSC), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). The article will explore a strategic approach rather than operational issues to address certain challenges within this strategy, and will discuss some maritime implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and its prospects for security cooperation in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). It says that IONS is a significant international maritime security initiative taken up by Indian Navy. This effort symbolizes the proactive role India wants to play in the Indian Ocean. However, the author observes that the path of IONS won't be easy since geographical dispersion, political and cultural sensitivities can derail its efforts. Moreover, IONS would be successful only if it manages to secure participation of all the littorals of IOR. Much of its success also depends upon how China view the organization due to its Indian origin, the author informs.