China, India, and the Indian Ocean

Asia Policy published in July 2016 a special edition titled "India and China at Sea: A Contest of Status and Legitimacy in the Indian Ocean."

Experts on this topic concluded that there is a wide gap between Indian and Chinese understandings of the two countries' respective intentions and roles in the Indian Ocean region. China seems intent on developing its economic and military interests in the Indian Ocean in a manner that almost inevitably will have a major impact on the regional balance of power. India sees the growing Chinese presence in highly securitized terms. India exhibits a mixture of acute defensiveness over its prerogatives and the protection of what it sees as its own backyard, but also a desire to leverage its own strategic advantages over China.

The special edition contains the following contributions:

--India and China at Sea: A Contest of Status and Legitimacy in the Indian Ocean by David Brewster.

--China's Emerging Indo-Pacific Naval Strategy by You Ji.

--The Maritime Silk Road and India: The Challenge of Overcoming Cognitive Divergence by Zhu Li.

--New Delhi at Sea: The China Factor in the Indian Ocean Policy of the Modi and Singh Governments by Pramit Pal Chaudhuri.

--India's Strategic Imperatives in the Asian Commons by Abhijit Singh.

--India's Response to China's Naval Presence in the Indian Ocean by Raja Menon.

--Expanding India's Maritime Domain Awareness in the Indian Ocean by Darshana M. Baruah.

--Diverging Perceptions of China's Emergence as an Indian Ocean Power by John W. Garver.

--The Western Indo-Pacific: India, China, and the Terms of Engagement by Rory Medcalf.