China has been investing considerable financial as well as intellectual resources for strengthening, improving, and maintaining its defense establishment. The Chinese military establishment continues to constantly keep itself abreast of advances in both technology and tactics. However, China’s race for arms and the urgency with which it wants to acquire competence in weapons technology are matters of serious concern for its big and small neighbors, not only those with many of whom it has territorial and maritime disputes but also countries of the Asia-Pacific region like Australia and the USA. It remains to be seen how far China, despite its race for arms and competence, is able to convince its neighbors and the world that its rise would indeed continue to be peaceful. In this backdrop, this article tracks the evolution of Chinese military policy in the recent years in terms of strategies, structures, finances, and development, and identifies the weaknesses of the military establishment. It attempts to understand China’s race for arms in the light of the significance of realist thought in understanding world politics.

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Comprising aspiring economies, significant reserves of social, human and natural capital, and witnessing the bulk of maritime trade, global as well as intra-region interests are inextricably tied to the Indo-Pacific. Since 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in exposing the fault lines in the Indo-Pacific which was already fraught with competing as well as cooperative geopolitical equations. In the context of regional and global actors being called upon to reign in the ensuing disruptions and establish alternate response mechanisms, this paper examines the geopolitical landscape of the Indo-Pacific and the evolution of India’s role as a key participant and contributor to regional dynamics. In doing do, the paper analyzes intra-region partnerships which have witnessed a steady expansion with New Delhi’s involvement. It also underscores the key responses and adaptations of countries in the region and how India’s engagement is poised to underwrite the same.

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