CHINA IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION AND BEYOND

CHINA IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION AND BEYOND

CHINA IN THE INDIAN OCEAN REGION AND BEYOND

The Indian Ocean is the world's third-largest body of water and has become a growing area of competition between China and India. The two regional powers' moves to exert influence in the ocean include deep-water port development in littoral states and military patrols. Though experts say the probability of military conflict between China and India remains low, escalated activities (such as port development and military exercises) and rhetoric could endanger stability in a critical region for global trade flows. But the diverse nontraditional security challenges in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) also offer areas of potential collaboration for China and India, as well as other regional actors. The Indian Ocean is the third largest ocean of the world, and has gained increasing importance in world affairs since the last three decades of the century gone by. It has a singular geographical construct wherein it is bound by Africa in the West, Asia in the North and East, and Australia towards the South East. It stretches all the way to Antarctica in the South, and is also connected to the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans in its Southern reaches. The Indian Ocean has a number of access points, which makes it unique since control of these access points allows control of the extensive shipping lanes that carry vital cargo across the vast expanse of this ocean. The present book is serve the very purpose meaningfully and give a fresh impetus to the scientific community for further research on geographical aspects on Indian Ocean, which we could not cover in this volume due to its limited scope.

Dr. Reema Chaddha, M.A., Ph.D., Political  Science and P.G. Diploma in Cyber Law, is at present Asst. Professor at Deptt. of  Political Science at K.B.M. Singh College,  Rajpur. She has been teaching the subject for last eight  years.  She has specialisation in international politics.  She has published  eight research papers in  various  reputed national  and international  journals and  presented  sixteen  papers  in several  national  and international conferences.