China's Expanding Airpower in the Western Indian Ocean

 Strategic Horizons, a publication of the Air University, just published an edition that contains my article titled "China's Expanding Airpower in the Western Indian Ocean."

This is an in-depth analysis of China's evolving airpower posture across the Western Indian Ocean from Pakistan to the coast of Africa from Egypt to South Africa, including the island countries.  It reflects research as of mid-2025 

European Union Seeks Higher Profile in Northwestern Indian Ocean

 The Middle East Institute published on 9 May 2023 an analysis titled "Joining the Pieces Together: Toward a Comprehensive EU Maritime Approach for the Northwestern Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf, and Red Sea" by Leonardo Jacopo Maria Mazzucco.

The European Union has demonstrated a renewed resolve to bolster its profile as a maritime security guarantor in the northwestern Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Red Sea.  The author then sets forth some important constraints before achieving this goal.  

China's Persian Gulf Diplomacy

The Centre for Chinese Studies at Stellenbosch University published in December 2014 a study titled "Navigating the Gulf: China's Balancing Strategy" by Mandira Bagwandeen, analyst for the Asia Pacific Region at Salamanca Group in South Africa. 

The author argues that China has sought to improve relations with Persian Gulf nations such as Iran because the region contains a large share of the world's proven oil reserves.  Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities has complicated China's diplomacy.

China's Strategic Shift Towards the Middle East and Western Indian Ocean

Christina Lin, visiting scholar at the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of California, Irvine, published in the Spring 2013 issue of Middle East Review of International Affairs an article titled "China's Strategic Shift Toward the Region of the Four Seas: The Middle Kingdom Arrives in the Middle East." 

The author argues that China is aligning with states that have problematic relations with West and are also geo-strategically placed on the littoral of the "Four Seas"--the Caspian Sea, Black Sea, Mediterranean Sea, and Arabian Sea/Persian Gulf.  She adds that China's pivot to this area threatens to outflank the citadel of American geo-strategies in the region.