The coming conflict in the Indian Ocean

India-China relations are likely to be one of cool contestation setting stage for enduring rivalry

As complex as the stand-off between Indian and Chinese troops at Doklam is, we in India have pre-existing mental models to process it. The Indian government has been aware of the contest in the undemarcated Himalayas since the 1950s, the army has been conscious of it since the 1960s and there have been parliamentary and public debates on the matter since then. We might not always agree on what needs to be done and we might have wrongly estimated Beijing’s intentions, but India — politicians, government officials and civil society — know how to think about the Himalayan angle. This