As the global order moves towards bipolarity, the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) has become a key area where major powers’ interests intersect. Although China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) doesn’t have an official IOR strategy, its engagement in the IOR reflects a doctrinal and tactical evolution in line with China’s rise as a global power. PLAN’s growing forays into the IOR impinge upon the region’s strategic stability, while posing a normative challenge for Indian strategic planners.
The rise of PLAN
Unlike Western powers, historically, China has been a continental power focused on its land borders to counter threats from its neighbours like Russia and Mongolia. Even after the formation of the PRC in 1949, PLAN’s ambitions were modest, focused on the ‘brown waters’ around the Taiwan Strait while China grappled with border tension with the USSR, Korea and India. However, factors such as the concentration of economic centres along the east coast, the decline of the threat along the Sino-Soviet border, and General Liu Huaqing’s visionary leadership transformed this land-centric outlook in the 1980s.