India is a rising force in Southeast Asia to counter China’s dominance India is not China! Dragon will be behind in South East Asia, India will become superpower, know why experts are saying

Beijing: India, not China, will be the dominant force in Southeast Asia in the next few years, believe experts who keep a close eye on the region’s politics. He says that India is taking big steps to increase its influence in South East Asia. It is pursuing steps that will enable it to counter China’s dominance in the region. If he is to be believed, there should be no doubt in the fact that India is certainly ambitious for the South East region. There is a situation of tension between India and China since the year 2020.

India is taking many strategic steps
Harsh V Pant, Vice President of the Observer Research Foundation, a think tank based in New Delhi, the capital of India, has said many important things in a conversation with CNBC. He said, ‘India is definitely becoming more ambitious in South East Asia. It doesn’t have any message.’ He said that India has become more assertive and assertive in its relations with the region. In the midst of growing rivalry with China, India is strategically pursuing several measures to strengthen its presence in the region.

Ongoing conflict with China
Pant says that for a long time, the Indian leadership hesitated before taking any steps in the region due to the apprehension of an ongoing conflict with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along the Himalayas. Since the year 2020, relations between India and China have remained tense. The Galvan violence added fuel to the fire in these relations. According to Pant, India used to believe that it should not go to those places due to which China gets in trouble or any crisis situation arises. He felt that China had full potential to trouble India. But after the present situation, this thinking has changed.

China not serious on border dispute
India has understood that China is not taking any steps to resolve the border dispute. So now he is more alert for South East Asia. China’s growing influence in Southeast Asia through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) also influences India’s strategic decisions, according to Joan Lin, associated with the ASEAN Studies Center at ISEAS at the Singapore-based Yusuf Ishaq Institute. Lin said that in such a situation it would be most important for India to double the security, especially the maritime security. Most of the countries in the region are associated with this mega project of China.

India’s only option
The initiative is aimed at expanding China’s influence across Asia, Europe and the Middle East through road, rail and sea networks. If observers are to be believed, China’s tough foreign policy as well as taking political and economic advantage due to Belt and Road have raised concerns in the region. According to Pant, till the Sino-India relations are not normalized to some extent, then India will have to increase relations with the countries located close to China, whether they are small or big. Apart from this he has no other option. Only by doing this can he get some benefit.