The Associated Press published on 7 September 2025 an article titled "Undersea Cables Cut in the Red Sea, Disrupting Internet Access in Asia and the Mideast" by Jon Gambrell.
A series of subsea cable outages on 6 September in the Red Sea has degraded internet connectivity in multiple countries. It has not been determined who cut the cables, although one possibility is the Houthi rebels in Yemen.
Stimson published on 20 August 2025 a commentary titled "India Must Level Up to Compete with China in the Western Indian Ocean" by Radhey Tambi.
The author argues that India is falling behind China's influence in the Western Indian Ocean and needs to step up its diplomatic, political, institutional, military, economic, and soft power engagement with the island countries if it intends to compete with Beijing.
The July 2025 issue of Asia Policy contains a book review roundtable of Darshana M. Baruah's book titled The Contest for the Indian Ocean and the Making of a New World Order (Yale University Press 2024). The focus of the book is great power competition and the role of the island countries in the Indian Ocean.
The roundtable consists of the following brief discussions:
--Power Asymmetry and Competition in the Indo-Pacific: The Island States of the Indian Ocean by Frederic Grare.
--Prioritizing the Indian Ocean in the Indo-Pacific by Nilanthi Samaranayake.
--The Agency of Island States in the Geopolitics of the Indian Ocean by Isabelle Saint-Mezard.
--The Island States Have Agency in the Contest for the Indian Ocean--But How? by Pradeep Taneja.
--Opening, Broadening, and Deepening the 'Geo' in the Geoppolitics of the Indian Ocean by Sanjay Chaturvedi.
--Author's Response: Reframing the Indian Ocean Debate by Darshana M. Baruah.
Bloomberg posted on 23 June 2025 a 12-minute video titled "How China Is Beating India in Its Own Backyard."
This is a balanced documentary about Indian and Chinese efforts to expand their security and economic influence in the Indian Ocean region. It pays particular attention to the role of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius and the UK/US military base in Diego Garcia.
Bloomberg posted on 14 June 2025 a 12-minute video titled "China's Power Play in the Indian Ocean."
The focus of the video is on growing India-China competition in the Indian Ocean. The dramatic expansion of Chinese military power in the region is seen as threatening to India. It comes at a time when the United States is reducing its influence in the region.
iStocks posted on You Tube on 15 June 2025 a 23-minute video titled "Africa Is Becoming the New Battleground: US vs China -- Who's Winning?"
There is a full-on competition between the United States and China for influence in Africa. This is a story of power and leverage between Washington and Beijing. The engagement models used in Africa by China and the US are very different. Beijing provides loans, construction companies, and often its own labor to build infrastructure projects across the continent. They are fast and avoid political conditionality but add to African debt. The US is transactional and wants to make deals by mobilizing the private sector. But they are slow, and the private sector often has difficulty raising financing.
For many years the US was the preferred partner of most African countries, but recent polls show that China is now the preferred partner. Recent US policy decisions affecting Africa have also harmed its reputation as a reliable partner. In the final analysis, Africans don't want to choose between China and the US, but they want the best deal they can get from both partners and others, including the European Union, Turkey, India, Japan, and South Korea.
Routledge has just published a book titled China's Negotiating Mindset and Strategies: Historical and Cultural Foundations edited by Guy Oliver Faure and I. William Zartman.
Chapter 21, which I authored, is titled "China's Negotiating Strategy in Africa." The other chapters cover a wide range of topics on China's strategy for negotiating business relations and geopolitics.
The Foreign Policy Research Institute published on 21 April 2025 an analysis titled "How the UK-Mauritius Deal on Chagos Could Reshape US Military Strategy in the Indian Ocean" by Raghvendra Kumar.
Diego Garcia hosts a joint Anglo-American military base with a deepwater port capable of berthing aircraft carriers, a long runway that enables deep-strike operations and accommodates heavy bombers and refueling aircraft, advanced satellite communication facilities, and strategically pre-positioned military support and supplies.
The Diego Garcia base, which most recently has been used to launch airstrikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, remains critical to US military strategy in the Indian Ocean. It provides the strategic depth necessary to deter aggression, defend US interests, restore freedom of navigation, and secure vital sea lines of communication. It takes on added importance as China expands its military footprint in the Indian Ocean region.
The South China Morning Post published on 13 April 2025 an article titled "India's New Submarine Base Targets China's Growing Sea Power" by Junaid Kathju.
India has unveiled a new state-of-the-art submarine base near Rambilli in the state of Andhra Pradesh in the Bay of Bengal. It coincides with the introduction later this year of India's third nuclear-powered submarine. These developments are occurring against the backdrop of escalating competition between New Delhi and Beijing for strategic influence in the Indian Ocean and broader Indo-Pacific region.
Iglobalnews.com posted on 14 April 2025 an article titled "Indian Navy Conducts Historic Joint Exercise in Africa."
Three Indian naval vessels joined four from Tanzania in Dar es Salaam on 13 April as part of a two-phase joint exercise that includes participants from Comoros, Djibouti, Kenya, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, and South Africa. Phase one includes table-top and command post exercises in Dar es Salaam focused on anti-piracy and information building. The sea phase will focus on strengthening maritime security cooperation. Officers and sailors from the 10 countries will spend 35 days together on one of the Indian ships to learn each other's best practices.
Comment: The Deputy Chief of Staff of the Indian Navy, Vice Admiral Tarun Sobti, earlier told the Polish Press Agency that "these maneuvers aim to counter China's growing influence in the region."
Foreign Affairs published on 7 April 2025 a commentary titled "America Needs a Real Indian Ocean Strategy" by Arzan Tarapore, Stanford University.
Chinese submarine activity will soon surpass India's ability to counter it in the Indian Ocean and India is ill equipped to offset China's growing naval presence. India's contributions to regional security are significant, but they will be dwarfed by what it will take to counter China's increasing naval capacity.
The author calls on the United States to craft a comprehensive strategy for the Indian Ocean because within a decade an expanding Chinese naval presence will be able to imperil global shipping lanes, extract more resources from countries in the region, and project force far beyond its current ability. The focus of this US strategy should be building collective military power.
The US Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, hosted on 13 March 2025 a two-hour panel discussion titled "What Is China's Military Strategy--Is It for Global Power Projection?"
The panelists included Dr. Barry M. Stentiford, U.S. Army School of Advanced Military Studies; Lt. Col. Samuel Short, Australian Army, U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and me. Each panelist opened with 10-minute comments. Most of the session was Q & A. The focus was China's security relations with Africa, China-Thailand relations, and military strategy and reform of the PLA.
Australia's Lowy Institute has released its "2024 Global Diplomacy Index."
China pulled ahead of the United States in global diplomatic missions in 2019 and maintained a small lead through 2023. Russia's war in Ukraine has resulted in a significant reduction in Moscow's diplomatic representation. Türkiye and India have significantly expanded their representation in recent years. There has been a recent focus on the establishment of diplomatic missions in Pacific Islands countries.
The Al Jazeera Centre for Studies published on 27 January 2025 an analysis titled "The New Battleground: Competing International Interests in the Gulf of Guinea" by Hakeem Alade Najimdeen, a Nigerian researcher.
The author looks at the interests of the United States, China, Russia, France, United Kingdon, India, Turkey, and Japan in the Gulf of Guinea and the competition among these countries for influence there.
The Associated Press published on 15 January 2025 an article titled "India's Navy Launches Submarine, Warships to Guard against China's Presence in Indian Ocean" by Rafiq Maqbool and Ashok Sharma.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned this week at a Mumbai shipyard an India-made submarine, destroyer, and frigate in response to China's major naval buildup and growing effort to extend power into the Indian Ocean.
The China International Development Cooperation Agency published on 17 December 2024 an article titled "3rd China-Indian Ocean Forum on Development Cooperation Held in Kunming."
Wang Yong, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, said at the opening ceremony of the China-Indian Ocean Forum that "the construction of a maritime community with a shared future is evolving from a Chinese initiative into a shared international goal."
India's Observer Research Foundation published on 30 December 2024 a commentary titled "Competitive Regionalism in the Indian Ocean" by Sayantan Haldar.
The Indian Ocean is witnessing competition for primacy between China and India. In 1997, India created the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) for Regional Cooperation. China has dialogue partner status. Since 2021, China has been convening the China-Indian Ocean Forum. India is not a member.
IORA is an intergovernmental forum that seeks to operate through diplomatic dialogue on issues of maritime security. The China-Indian Ocean Forum reinforces a client-patron dynamic between China and Indian Ocean littoral states, whereas IORA is a democratic forum fostering dialogue on issues of common interest.
China-US Focus published on 13 December 2024 a commentary titled "China and Africa, Rekindling the Fates of Global Power" by Sebastian Contin Trillo-Figueroa, The University of Hong Kong, and Mohamed Ibrahim Hafez, General Authority for Investment and Free Zones in Egypt.
This highly sympathetic view of China concludes that in the contest for great power influence in Africa, "China's pragmatic vision steadily undermines the West's traditional partnership models" while Beijing's competitors are pursuing deeply flawed polices.
The Diplomat published on 11 November 2024 a commentary titled "Africa-India Ties: The Continent's Next Big Relationship or Over-Hyped?" by Barnaby Joseph Dye, King's College London, and Punkhuri Kumar, Imperial College London.
The authors argue that the Africa-India relationship is not yet living up to expectations. Considerable barriers are preventing opportunities from being realized. This will only change when, or if, New Delhi is able to increase governmental capacity to boost political ties and development cooperation.
The Washington Post published on 21 October 2024 an article titled "BRICS Is Key to Putin's Fight against the U.S. Not All Members Agree" by Robyn Dixon, Katharine Houreld, Francesca Ebel, and Karishma Mehrotra.
This is a particularly good analysis of the BRICS as it meets this week in Russia. This is the first gathering since the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) added Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia to its membership.
Russia and China envisage the BRICS as an anti-West organization to overturn the US-led international order. Brazil, India, and South Africa have different objectives. The addition of new members further complicates the purpose of the organization. The article concludes that "expansion of the group has fueled internal tensions, diluting the clout of the original founders and entrenching China's dominance."
Defence Web published on 30 September 2024 an article titled "Indian, Brazilian, and Chinese Warships Heading to South Africa" by Guy Martin.
The PLA Navy is sending its frigate CNS Xuchang to participate in the annual Navy Festival in Simons Town, South Africa, from 4-6 October. The PLA Navy hospital ship, Peace Ark, made a weeklong visit to Cape Town in August.
The Navy Festival will be followed from 7-16 October by Exercise IBSAMAR, which involves naval vessels from South Africa, India, and Brazil off the Western Cape. Exercise IBSAMAR debuted in 2008 as an alliance of three countries with democratic values, commercial interests, and maritime cooperation. India is sending the stealth frigate INS Talwar to Exercise IBSAMAR.
Comment: The juxtaposition of PLA and Indian naval vessels in South Africa one after the other underscores the naval competition between India and China in the Indian Ocean.
