In a relatively short period of time however – roughly the last two years – the tide on the subcontinent has shifted dramatically against India. Pakistan, of course, has long been India’s adversary while also being one of China’s closest partners in the world. Now, as China modernizes, that partnership benefits Pakistan in its balancing against India; in recent India-Pakistan battles, Pakistan
modern Chinese air-to-air missiles, defense systems, and advanced fighter planes to reportedly significant effect.
In the past two years, leaders who favored India also have lost power In Sri Lanka, the Maldives, and Nepal.
, the party of Maldives president Mohamed Muizzu won a landslide victory in parliament. Muizzu had won the presidency the year before on a platform of “India out,” a campaign against India’s longstanding influence over the island country. Muizzu has openly welcomed much closer links to China, and made a visit to Xi Jinping earlier this year. The indebted archipelago state badly needs external financing and is looking to China for it (it already owes
to China.)
