Chinese Arms Sales And Military Cooperation In The Indian Ocean Region In The Context Of Sino-indian Maritime Competition

Since the beginning of the 21st century,as China's economic and energy security interests in the Indian Ocean Region(IOR)have increased,so have Chinese arms sales to and military diplomacy with countries in the Indian Ocean Region.Additionally,China has bolstered its domestic naval capabilities to defend China's access to energy and maritime trade routes.Specifically,in order to ensure access to these sea lines of communication(SLOCs),China has developed bilateral defense ties with countries in the region to ensure access to resupply,deep water ports and other naval logistic facilities.Furthermore,the People's Liberation Army Navy has increased its number of logistics ships,modern submarines and surface combatants equipped for SLOC protection,and fixed wing and rotary wing naval aviation capabilities necessary to combat attempts at sea denial.At the same time,India's military modernization,particularly of its air force and navy,India's increased defense cooperation with western developed countries,and India's two iterations of a strategy to engage with ASEAN countries,Look East and Act East,have enabled India to initiate more proactive maritime security engagement with smaller countries in Southeast Asia like Singapore and claimants to the South China Sea like Indonesia.India's revolutions in military affairs enabled by technology acquisition enable India to project influence throughout the IOR,which China perceives as a potential threat to Chinese interests.The Chinese Ministry of Defense's 2015 White Paper provides a clear strategic framework for China's more expansive naval posture.Through the three case studies of Sino-Pakistani defense relations,Sino-Thai defense relations and Sino-Bangladesh defense cooperation,this thesis argues that Chinese defense diplomacy in the IOR has been steadily increasing to compliment China's need to sustain a naval presence further from China's coastal water ways.These three case studies demonstrate three types of relationships which serve this goal.The first type of relationship,exemplified by the Pakistan case,emphasizes relationships with countries which are more strategically important for Chinese influence in the region,and is characterized by more bilateral military exercises and training and a higher trade of weapons.Additionally,this type of relationship also entails closed defense industry cooperation and the exchange of more advanced technologies.The second type of relationship,exemplified by the Sino-Thai case,demonstrates China's maintenance of its relationships with regional partners to further its political influence in the region without altering the military balance of the region,while at the same time steadily increasing joint military exercises and arms sales.The Sino-Bangladeshi case exemplifies the third type of relationship:relations with countries that neither provide influence in the region strategically nor political influence with neighboring countries or in multilateral institutions,yet these countries receive a large number of weapons from China and are involved in limited joint production schemes.This thesis employs data acquired from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute,United States National Defense University and Institute for International Security Studies to enumerate trends in bilateral military cooperation and arms sales.This defense diplomacy has increasingly served to bolster China's ability to compete in the IOR with India's recent increase in defense overtures with its neighbors,countries in Southeast Asia and its increasingly friendly behavior with Japan and Australia.