ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the changes in India’s naval strategy in response to the rise of China. It argues that with growing Chinese military capabilities, the security dilemma that characterizes Sino-Indian relations has intensified. The chapter discusses the security dilemma and presents the idea of the cascading security dilemma. It provides an overview of China’s naval activities in the Indian Ocean Region and focuses on the growing contours of the Sino-Pakistani “alliance” and India’s growing strategic partnership with the US and other maritime democracies in the Indo-Pacific. These alliances and partnerships have created a cascading security dilemma in geopolitical terms. The chapter explains the main developments in India’s current naval strategy, and describes the land-sea dilemma facing India’s defence planners. It concludes with a brief discussion about some of the challenges to India’s new naval strategy and the broad implications of arguments.
