21st Century Maritime Power-Politics in the Indian Ocean Region with Special Reference to the Bay of Bengal Mohd Aminul Karim The aim of this paper is to project the emerging power-relations in the maritime realm between geopolitical players in the Indian Ocean region. These power-relations involve military shields and spears, infrastructure development, alignment–alliance relations, international trade routes, criti- cal choke points, energy, and above all geopolitical implications. The methods followed in the paper are content analysis, case-method, interview, observation, and so forth. The paper concludes that emerging power polarizations are visible and are gradually taking a tangible shape in the form of military–economic condominium, presumably coming from opposite directions. Key words: Indian Ocean, maritime, international trade routes, Mahan, naval supremacy, Malacca Strait, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bay of Bengal, India, China, United States, Japan. Introduction The Indian Ocean, third largest ocean in the world, covers at least one-fifth of the world’s total ocean area. 1 It is delimited by Africa and the Arabian Peninsula (the western Indian Ocean), India’s coastal waters (the central Indian Ocean), and the Bay of Bengal (BoB) near Myanmar and Indonesia (eastern Indian Ocean). The Ocean provides critical sea routes that connect the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia within the broader Asian continent to the east and Europe to the west. 2 The Himalayas stand on its north – in fact north of South Asia – thus separating South Asia from China. Standing tall on the north, China maintains a shadowy pax 1. Ravindra Varma, “Strategic Importance of the Indian Ocean,” Indian Journal of Political Science, 28-1/2 (January–June 1967), p. 51. 2. Eleanor Albert, “Competition in the Indian Ocean,” CFR Backgrounders, Council on Foreign Re- lations (19 May 2016), at <http://www.cfr.org/regional-security/competition-indian-ocean/p37201> (searched date: 22 February 2017). 56 Pacific Focus, Vol. XXXII, No. 1 (April 2017), 56–85. doi: 10.1111/pafo.12090 © 2017 Center for International Studies, Inha University