New Delhi, Nov. 5 -- For decades, the field of strategic studies in South Asia has been dominated by a familiar, almost comfortable, set of anxieties: the intractable India-Pakistan conflict, the unresolved border with China, and the persistent shadow of nuclear escalation. Today, the 21st century "Great Game" has new players and a new board-the US-led Indo-Pacific strategy versus China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). This 21st-century rivalry is turning our vital economic arteries, like the Bay of Bengal, into theatres of strategic competition.

We see this contest play out in the strategic dance around port access-from the Chinese-managed operations in Sri Lanka's Hambantota and Pakistan's Gwadar to India's counter-investments. From D...