Revista de estudios de defensa y gestión de recursos

China Presence in Indian Ocean and Impact Towards India Maritime Security

Mohd Ezrisyah Md Shah, Noraini Zulkafli*, Amer Fawwaz Mohamad Yasid, Azrul Azlan Abdul Rahman and Hanis Shaheera Sawal Hamid

The strategic value of the Indian Ocean has invited lots of attention from a major power. For India, the Indian Ocean shows its domain and obvious superiority that it has held for some centuries. However, there seem to be arising from China presence in the region. This action has prompted India as the leading actor in the area and created a diversified approach to mitigating the issue. How should India respond to this? What would be the impact of this phenomenon on India maritime strategy? Is China presence should be defined as a threat for India to continue its ambition as a prospect dominant global key player, or it produces opportunity that India should grab in order to remain relevant in Indian Ocean perspective. This article will study the China presence in the Indian Ocean and impact on India maritime security. The objectives of this study namely 1) to identify China economy interest in the Indian Ocean, 2) to discuss China strategic interest in the Indian Ocean and 3) to analyze security impact towards India maritime security. This qualitative approach has using secondary data from 2010-2018. The finding of this study are 1) A naval tension not only to both countries but include all the neighboring countries in the region, 2) India sees that China tried to encircle its nation by establishing one belt one road initiative; 3) India has enhanced the excellent relationship with the United States and the neighboring countries in the Indian Ocean.