This article was written by IWP doctoral candidate Saba Sattar.
As the majority of the security establishment focuses on China’s massive military buildup in the South and East China Seas, its increasing frequency of deployments in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) will cause problems for years to come.
While in a relatively nascent stage of military buildup, the Indian Ocean serves as a bridge between the Pacific and Mediterranean. Within the vastness of these high seas lies a burgeoning economy of the world’s largest democracy, India.
This region also establishes one of the most traversed sea lines of communication (SLOCs), via the eight-and nine-degree channels to the west and the Malacca Strait to the east.