Naval power has been a key element of great power conflict in the past, and growing hostility between the United States and China won’t prove an exception.

A variety of shared geopolitical interests will bring New Delhi and Washington closer together in the year to come.

In this first article of a new series on claimants in the South China Sea dispute, we examine the historical reasoning, diplomacy, and island-building underpinning China’s claim.

Opposition politician Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has won the Maldives’ general election, putting China’s latest foray into India’s backyard in jeopardy.

The US-China bilateral relationship is too big to fail.

Reports suggest that China wants to build a military base in Australia’s backyard.

The first domino of ASEAN claimant states has fallen as Brunei goes silent on the South China Sea dispute in exchange for closer economic cooperation with China.

It’s not just the Maldives where India and China are staring each other down in the Indian Ocean. The “Resplendent Island” is also a potential frontline in the simmering geopolitical competition between Asia’s giants.

It’s time for US policy planners to deal with the China that exists, and not the imaginary one they have long hoped for.

A political crisis in Maldives is presenting possible inroads for China’s ‘string of pearls’ strategy in the Indian Ocean.