China in the Indian Ocean

 The Australian Strategic Policy Institute published in June 2026 a report titled "Pressure Points Part 3: China in the Pacific and Indian Oceans" by Joe Keary, Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, and Linus Cohen.  

The study contains a discussion on mapping China's security engagement, trends and analysis, China's growing presence, how major players are responding, and China's future in the Indian Ocean.  

Mapping China's Maritime Strategy

 The National Bureau of Asian Research published on 1 August 2024 an essay titled "Geography Matters, Time Collides: Mapping China's Maritime Strategic Space Under Xi" by Andrew Erickson.

The author uses maps as visual references for understanding China's evolving maritime geography and the constraints on its power in the maritime domain.  Concerning Africa, he identifies potential PLAN ports in Mozambique, Equatorial Guinea, Cameroon, and Mauritania.  Constraints on the projection of Chinese sea power in African waters are long distances from China and choke points such as Bab el Mandeb in the Red Sea.

China's Africa Foreign Policy Model Works Less Well with Pacific Island Nations

 The Lowy Institute's The Interpreter published on 14 June 2022 an analysis titled "Insights from Africa as China Stumbles in the Pacific" by Cornelia Tremann.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited ten Pacific island nations with the goal of increasing Chinese influence, especially in the security sector.  The author concludes that what has worked well for China in Africa, a focus on trade and financing as vehicles to build influence, didn't transfer neatly to the Pacific.  Evidence from Africa suggests that China will try to parlay stronger economic relations into a military foothold in the Pacific.  The results of Wang's trip suggests that the Pacific islands are not Africa.  

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.

China's Maritime Strategy

The Institute for National Strategic Studies at the National Defense University published in April 2015 a study titled "China Moves Out: Stepping Stones Toward a New Maritime Strategy" by Christopher H. Sharman, a US Navy officer studying at the National Defense University.  While the study focuses on China's maritime strategy in the Pacific Ocean, it also looks at future strategy in the Indian Ocean, which has implications for Africa and island nations in the Western Indian Ocean.