String of Pearls: Chinese Economic Strategy Concerning the IOR Amid Growing Security Dilemma, with an Emphasis on the CPEC

Abstract

China has been busy in resizing its spheres of influence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). Manner of the game has gone well beyond a positional or a tactical play as its scope is now strategic. Chinese rapid development of its strategic integers, through the infamous string of Pearls (SoP) design, has given it an upper hand in this game and has made it more resourceful than any other nation in the IOR periphery. From the Indian perspective, the growing economic and military presence of China in the IOR qualifies to be a threatening recipe of containment. While the Belt and Road initiative is the heart of Chinese control, the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is functioning like an essential system of arteries at the apex of the Arabian Peninsula, energizing Pakistan’s structural integrity to make it an integral part of that control. This paper explores the geopolitical strategy of China which involves String of Pearls, concerns the Indian Ocean Region, and, in relation to that, significantly improve scope of the CPEC.