Countering China: India’s Pacific Predicament
Countering China: India’s Pacific Predicament

Summary/Abstract: The term ‘Indo-Pacific’, while mingling the Indian and the Pacific Ocean geopoliticsin the 21st century, also attempts to integrate India with the Pacific regiongeopolitically. India has increasingly integrated economically with the Pacific worldsince the unveiling of her Look East Policy in 1994, rechristened as the Act EastPolicy in 2014. Growing hostility between the country and China compelled Indiato turn to the ‘contain China’ approach in the Pacific region, which is the cradleof Chinese naval prowess. However, India’s deficient naval strength with itsfocus on the Indian Ocean and her land-oriented security priority amid Chineseand Pakistani threats are major handicaps to India’s geo-strategic aspirationsin the Pacific region vis-à-vis China’s rise. Therefore, India, unable to pursue anoffensive realist approach to contain China in the Pacific, has opted for a ‘balanceof threat’ approach, forming alliances with the China-wary countries of the Pacificregion, albeit only informally, in order to avoid Chinese retribution

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