ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines five major developments that are transforming India’s role and position in Asian security. First, India’s growing economic and military prowess, enhancing its position and ambition in Asian security affairs. Second, the Modi government’s self-assured engagement of neighbours and great powers to expand diplomatic elbow room. Third, the strategic importance of the Indian Ocean Region in the Indo-Pacific dynamic. Fourth, India’s yawning power asymmetry vis-à-vis China, and, finally, the US perception of India as a regional counterweight to China in the wake of US–China rivalry. The chapter then presents a theoretical framework discussing how India is managing these changes and, above all, China’s growing power. The assessment of India’s foreign policy is framed within balance-of-power theory, examining India’s policy along the balancing-bandwagoning continuum, with hedging constituting a distinct in-between option.
