Many in India argue that given the high stakes that China and India have in each other’s economies, conflict between the two is highly unlikely. But as tensions in South China Sea exemplify, economic interdependence has never really been an antidote to conflict. New Delhi should watch China’s behaviour closely and learn due lessons in dealing with the rising dragon in its vicinity. Against this backdrop of China’s rise and relative US decline, it is imperative that India contribute to the Asian security dynamic to bring greater stability to the region especially as Sino-Indian relations become turbulent with each passing day.

A perceptive article on the unfolding “New Great Game” in not just the IOR but what the writer calls the “Indo-Pacific Ocean Region”. The meteoric rise in China’s GDP is fuelling the impressive rise of the PLA-Navy and its increasingly assertive stance in the South China and the Yellow Sea. The writer critically examines the naval balance between India and China and the consequences thereof. With the announcement of an American pivot plan in the East by President Obama and Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s recent visit to India, the great game is revving up in earnest. Can India choose to be non-aligned in the context of a balance of power game which involves its primary security threat? Can we afford to sit on the fence? China has Pakistan as its key regional balancer for India and is engaging India in the Chinese game of surround called Weiqi (Go). We need to bandwagon with those countries that feel equally threatened by China’s menacing rise. Its too late perhaps to sit on the fence.

A Region in Turmoil: Threats to Gulf Energy and Shipping Rather than offering a comprehensive, encyclopedic threat analysis, this Insight aims to pinpoint the most immediate threats to the security of Gulf energy and international shipping and the likelihood that they could become a reality. It constitutes a first attempt at looking at the likely scenarios that so far have been given inadequate attention.