China’s Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflow, during three successive stages in 1979-1999, helped it to elevate the country’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product). The methods of reformations and initiatives by the Chinese government in these periods adopted new broader FDI policies in various fields. China stabilised its GDP growth and utilised its natural resources to modernise its region. Its political diplomacy and soft loans won the hearts and minds of many nations from Asia to Africa. This power projection gifted China with a leveraged sphere of influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). The industrialisation and foreign policy initiatives of China focused its economy and boosted its GDP graph. This resulted in the higher influence of geopolitics in various fields. While India propounded its ‘Look East policy’ China focussed on the West and concentrated on foreign investments all around Asia. Beijing then further extended its focus to the African continent. Major Chinese initiatives such as ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) and 21st Century Maritime Silk Road (MSR) helped it establish stronger meta-geopolitics in Asia and beyond. Meanwhile, Narendra Modi sought to change the phase of India’s geopolitical strategy by inviting SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) leaders to his swearing-in ceremony on 26 May 2014. The process initiated to address Chinese meta-geopolitics in the South Asian region marked the first move of his game in of grand chess played across the Asian landscape. India’s 15th Prime Minister Narendra Modi is carrying forward the seven key dimensions of meta-geopolitics to counter the game of checks and balances in the geopolitical map of Asia. Modi’s timely major initiatives such as ‘Make in India’[i] to draw more FDI to the nation, ‘Digital India’,[ii] ‘MoUD Smart Cities’,[iii] ‘Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’[iv] and ‘Mudra Bank’[v] addressed dimensions of economics, science and human capital. ‘Swachh Bharat’,[vi] ‘Clean Ganga’[vii] and ‘Green India’[viii] highlight environmental, social and health dimensions. India’s Project Mausaum[ix] to strengthen current ties between the countries across the ocean though was a slow starter. Chabahar port connectivity, on the other hand, can be seen as a part of India’s balancing act to counter China’s meta-geopolitical moves in the Central Asian region. Modi’s foreign policy thrust and economic cooperation agenda have effectively impacted Chinese footprints in the region over the past two and half years. Furthermore, by promoting defence exports via ‘Make in India’,[x] an attempt has been made to balance against Chinese defence exports in the region. These initiatives will have a strong impact on exporting arms and ammunition at a low price and in assured quality over the coming decades. As a result, small nations are inclined towards defence imports from India. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s power projection is taking its shape to challenge Chinese diplomacy and economic activities in Asia. In two and half years of Modi’s era, many checks and balances have been conceived to counter Chinese activity in Asia and IOR. The success of these measures can only be gauged in the coming years. This paper will address these issues against the backdrop of China’s meta-geopolitical moves in the international arena. Furthermore, it will aim to analyse the changing meta-geopolitical strategies under Narendra Modi and Xi Jinping. This paper will seek to answer the following questions.

As new security providers, India and China have common, but not always shared, interests in Asia. This paper looks at how that has evolved and what holds in the future. It looks at Nepal, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan as case studies.

With the dawn of the 21st Century, the Asian balance of power has witnessed a strategic architecture, wherein ‘counterbalancing’ dominant intra-regional behaviour shift calling for instability. With the re-emergence of Asia in global political scenario, mainly driven by the rise of China has redefined the power dynamics in the Asian theatre. United States (US) is gradually losing the grip in Asia and most importantly, the regional flux is orchestrated by China and Japan who are equal and strong players at the same time. This power parity between Beijing and Tokyo has changed the security. The parallel ambitions and quest for regional leadership between China and Japan has turned the Asian region into a volatile theatre of power politics. Given this perspective, the present paper explores China’s growing ambitions in Asia. It will examine how Beijing’s ambitions are faced by a Japan challenge. Furthermore, the chapter will examine the tit-for-tat power game between Beijing and Tokyo given their strong aspirations for regional leadership in Asia.

Challenge of regional integration in Modi's neighbourhood initiatives

The COVID-19 pandemic has swept the world with a state of medical emergency, economic slowdown and health infrastructures challenged by multiple wave sand strains of the mutating virus. Despite a good recovery rate from the COVID-19 infections, India is among the worst affected nations by the pandemic economically and from a security perspective. While New Delhi witnessed worsening relations with its neighbors like China, it introduced several policies to tackle the COVID-19, while handling its international relations with its neighbors in the Indian Ocean and beyond. The paper raises the question of how the COVID-19 pandemic affected the strategic environment for India. How did India respond to the regional challenges under this strategic environment through its COVID-19 strategy and/or diplomacy? The study uses the neoclassical realist concept of permissive/restrictive strategic environment and the role of foreign policy executive (FPE) in shaping foreign policy. The paper argues that COVID-19 proved to be a catalyst for shaping the strategic environment for India as that of imminent threat, leading to a more restrictive strategic environment for the nation, giving it narrower window of options to exercise its COVID-19 diplomacy and build security partnerships. It discusses how India's COVID-19 strategies were catalyst in shaping India's security policies and initiatives in the Indian Ocean region. The paper states that since India faced a restrictive strategic environment internationally, its foreign policy elite remained key actors that influenced India's foreign policy in the Indian Ocean to balance Chinese influence in the region through its COVID-19 diplomacy and strategy for regional engagement.