ABSTRACT
Strategic competition between India and China has the potential to profoundly affect the stability and security of the Indo-Pacific. The countries’ relationship in the maritime realm is part of a broader relationship that includes elements of cooperation, coexistence, and competition. But there are also factors that tend to give the maritime security relationship its own, often negative, dynamic. This is leading to what may eventually become a protracted contest for dominance in the Indian Ocean. As India's national power grows while China's presence in the Indian Ocean expands and as the US presence likely declines in the long term, there is a real risk that the interactions between India and China in this theater will become ever more competitive.
