China’s Maritime Strategy and Its Strategic Implications for India In The Indo-Pacific

Abstract

China’s evolving maritime policy has changed the geostrategic environment of the Indo-Pacific and has put pressure on India to adjust its maritime security strategy. There has been increasing academic focus on the China–India maritime competition, but there has been scant exploration of their strategic interplay in an integrated analytical framework. The study thus uses Lykke’s Means-Ways-Ends paradigm to analyse China’s Maritime Strategy and its implications for India’s Maritime Security Strategy in the Indo-Pacific. A qualitative research design is employed, with the use of documentary and content analysis of government policy documents, defence white papers, naval doctrines and relevant academic literature. The results show that China’s maritime grand strategy is coherent, as it combines naval might, economic statecraft, technological innovation and diplomatic engagement to achieve its regional influence and long-term strategic goals. India has responded with a calibrated balancing approach through navy modernisation, strategic autonomy and enhanced regional cooperation under the Indian Maritime Security approach 2015, SAGAR, the Act East Policy and the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue. The study suggests that the maritime competition between China and India is a multifaceted strategic balancing rather than a frontal clash. It also reinforces the Means-Ways-Ends paradigm as an appropriate analytical framework to explain the relationship between country capabilities, operational tactics and political aims in the growing Indo-Pacific maritime order.