China’s key maritime vulnerability starts at the Strait of Hormuz rather than the Strait of Malacca, creating a fresh arena of strategic competition in the Indian Ocean involving Beijing, India, France and the United States, according to a new report released ahead of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.
The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said in its report titled Asia Pacific Regional Security Assessment that the Indian Ocean Region is re-emerging as a crucial strategic theatre after decades of relative calm following the Cold War.