The Indo-Pacific Contestation

The Geo-Political tensions are ongoing in the Indo Pacific region, South Asia and the Indian Ocean are at the centre of this debate due to their geopolitical and economic importance.
India’s rise to prominence and emergence as a powerful nation, The Quad partners of New Delhi are making progress in its backyard as tensions between an aggressive China and India, heralding in significant changes in the area.

South Asia and the Indian Ocean have long been in conflict. China has long sought to increase its influence in these areas
Strategic goals include limiting Indian influence, military might, and status while preserving its energy supplies and economic expansion.
With its economic rise in the early 2000s, Beijing’s influence in South Asia expanded. Through loans, financial incentives, and mega-infrastructure projects, it started advancing its strategic goals in the area; this became more institutionalised with the launch of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in 2013.
Only after the battles in Galwan in 2020 has Indian strategic thinking deemed Beijing to be a greater danger than Islamabad.
Although a two-front war is still conceivable, Pakistan’s strategic isolation, negative economic and political repercussions, and border and terrorism challenges coming from Afghanistan have reduced the chances of its aggression.
Beijing’s larger strategic and diplomatic presence, however, as well as its lofty objectives, have continued to cause anxiety for New Delhi.

Following Galwan, New Delhi has refocused its diplomatic efforts in its immediate neighbourhood.
New Delhi is responding to President Ibrahim Solih’s “India First” strategy in the Maldives with significant financial aid, grants, and infrastructure projects as well as by collaborating on marine security.
The Nepali administration under Prime Minister Deuba has made an effort to strengthen Nepal’s bilateral relations with India.
India has invested $4 billion and offered $4 billion in economic and humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka this year alone.
Other Quad members (Japan, Australia, and the United States) have been drawn to India’s leading efforts in South Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Source The Hindu

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