Kingshuk Nag, journalist and author of A New Silk Road: India China and the Geopolitics of Asia

That the Chinese are a threat on Indian Ocean is a fact that common Indians are not aware of. Therefore, the need to educate them about this. The encirclement theory is something I believe in, therefore the ‘strings in a pearl’ theory of the Chinese is a reality in my opinion.

Since Chinese President Xi Jinping announced his ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), several books and research papers have come out on the subject. What drove you to write on this subject?

Let me give a longer answer to your question: why I wrote this book. I wrote this book because of my intense interest in this subject albeit from a non-professional angle. Non-professional because neither have I specialised in military affairs nor in diplomacy. Most of the folks who write on this subject are defence or diplomatic specialists. Others are considered as amateurs.

I do not remember what exactly sparked my interest in this subject but around the summer of 2012, it dawned on me that China was India’s enemy number one because it was militarily strong and had beaten us hollow once before—in 1962. Yet, at the same time Indian business was going gaga over China with nary a care. Indian companies were setting up of offices in Beijing and Shanghai and exports to China including that of iron ore (to make steel) was increasing. At the same time, Chinese imports to India of various kinds of goods was increasing manifold and the balance of trade was becoming adverse for India. Nobody seemed to be bothered.

Once I was admitted to a hospital after I fell ill. The bed I was lying on was too narrow. I asked the administrator where he got it from. He said he had flown down to Guangdong in China from where beds could be ordered! They came rather cheaply. Thereafter I kept my eyes open and realised that goods of all kinds were being imported from China: this included even ‘Kutch handicrafts’. I was getting worried b