Manoj Kewalramani on How China Views the Indo-Pacific Region

In the last decade, there has been a growing convergence of global powers in the Indo-Pacific, evident from the proliferation of multilateral initiatives in the region. It has also emerged as an arena for geopolitical competition between China and the United States. As the competition intensifies, how does China see the Indo-Pacific? How has Beijing's understanding of this region changed over time? What can India learn from the way China sees the Indo-Pacific?

In this episode of Interpreting India, Manoj Kewalramani joins Shibani Mehta to answer these questions and more. 

Episode Contributors

Manoj Kewalramani is a fellow in China Studies and the chairperson of the Indo-Pacific Studies Programme at the Takshashila Institution. His research interests range from Chinese politics, foreign policy, and approaches to new technologies to addressing questions on how India can work with like-minded partners to address challenges presented by China's rise. Manoj is the author of Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance, which discusses China’s political, diplomatic, economic, and narrative responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Shibani Mehta is a senior research analyst with the Security Studies Program at Carnegie India. Her research focuses on the India-China boundary dispute with the purpose of analyzing India’s foreign and security policy decisionmaking.

Additional Readings

Smokeless War: China’s Quest for Geopolitical Dominance by Manoj Kewalramani

Indo-Pacific Empire: China, America and the Contest for the World's Pivotal Region by Rory Medcalf

Key Moments

(0:00); Introduction

(2:35); Chapter 1: China’s Role in the Indo-Pacific

(8:36); Chapter 2: Changing Threat Perceptions of the Term “Indo-Pacific”

(13:25); Chapter 3: Different Interpretations of the Term “Indo-Pacific”

(19:55); Chapter 4: The Contradictory Position Undertaken by China

(28:36); Chapter 5: Beijing’s Vision for a Global Order

(33:59); Chapter 6: India’s Take on China’s View of the Indo-Pacific  

(43:16); Closing Comments

(44:19); Outro

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