India and the Rebalancing of Asia

C. Raja Mohan is a Distinguished Professor at the Motwani Jadeja Institute for American Studies, O.P. Jindal Global University, Delhi. He is also a Visiting Research Professor at the Institute of South Asian Studies (ISAS) at the National University of Singapore and was previously the Director of ISAS. Mohan was the founding director of Carnegie India, the sixth international centre of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. He also set up the Asia Society Policy Institute branch in New Delhi. He was associated with several Indian think tanks, including the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, the Observer Research Foundation and the Centre for Policy Research. Mohan was a Professor of South Asian Studies at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi and the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He served on India’s National Security Advisory Board. Mohan was the Henry A. Kissinger Chair in Foreign Policy and International Relations at the John W. Kluge Center at the US Library of Congress in 2009–10. He convened the India chapter of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs from 1995 to 2005. Mohan has published widely on India’s foreign and security policies, Asian geopolitics and the global governance of advanced technologies. He is the co-author of the IISS Adelphi book, Asia’s New Geopolitics: Military Power and Regional Order, published in 2021. He is a columnist for Foreign Policy and the Indian Express.

• ContentsAuthorAcknowledgementsMap of India and the Indo-Pacific region IntroductionChapter One: Great transitionsIntroductionIndia at the centreThe centre does not holdRestoring the India centreChapter Two: The China challengeIntroductionStructural divergenceBorder disputeSouth AsiaIndian OceanMultilateral arenaChapter Three: The US partnershipIntroductionDefence cooperationPakistanThe Indo-Pacific The QuadTrump 2.0Chapter Four: Regional dynamicsIntroductionAustralia and JapanRussiaThe United Kingdom and EuropeSouth AsiaSoutheast AsiaAsian resetChapter Five: India as the balancerIntroductionIdeological balanceEconomic rebalanceTechnological rebalanceMilitary rebalanceConclusion: In Asia and of AsiaIntroductionAssertive China, disruptive AmericaThe great triangleAlliances, autonomy and burden-sharingIndia’s Asian challenges AppendixNotesIndex

‘Raja Mohan's latest work is a carefully crafted analysis of India's role in the emerging geopolitics of Asia. He makes a strong case for India's centrality in this new regional order shaped by China's rapid rise. Mohan explains how India can play its rightful role in Asia, even as it contends with an unpredictable Trump 2.0 administration.’Lisa Curtis, Senior Fellow and Director, Indo-Pacific Security Programme, Center for a New American Security‘How will India help shape the future of Asia and the world? Answers range wildly, from some outsiders’ underestimation of India’s relevance to an abundance of confidence within parts of the New Delhi establishment. In this significant book, C. Raja Mohan persuasively provides a middle path. He deploys a mastery of geopolitical history to make the case for Indian centrality in the new Indo-Pacific order – as long as New Delhi’s decisions remain tempered by realism, in every sense.’Rory Medcalf, Head of the National Security College, Australia National University and author of Indo-Pacific Empire: China, America and the Contest for the World's Pivotal Region‘Raja Mohan, one of India’s foremost thinkers on international relations, offers a clear and timely account of the forces shaping New Delhi’s foreign policy and outlook. This book provides a vital guide to the worldview of a rising power and the role of India in an ever-changing Asia.’Suzannah Jessep, Chief Executive, Asia New Zealand Foundation; former Deputy High Commissioner to India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh (New Zealand)‘This book provides a compelling account of India’s emergence as a strategic balancer in the Indo-Pacific. With historical precision and geopolitical insight, Mohan unpacks India’s evolving posture – from ambivalence to assertiveness – as it navigates China’s rise and deepens ties with the United States. Essential reading for understanding how India seeks to shape a multipolar Asia while preserving autonomy in a complex strategic environment.’Ken Jimbo, Professor of International Relations, Keio University; Managing Director of Programs at the International House of Japan (IHJ/I-House); former Special Advisor to the Ministry of Defense and the National Security Secretariat (Japan)