Page 557 - SSB Interview: The Complete Guide, Second Edition

together and unite against pressure from developed nations.

India has its own place in the WTO. Many developing and underdeveloped
nations look at India as their leader. India has maintained a very good

relationship with most of the developed and other nations in WTO; therefore,
it is very unlikely that India will be imposed with unfavourable policies. India
has always benefitted and successfully safeguarded their developmental
concerns. India has been a part of most of the constructional policies

developed at the WTO.

17. STRING OF PEARLS

“Geopolitics is all about leverage, to be safer abroad you need to be safe

at home.”

— Thomas L. Friedman

1. ‘String of Pearls’ refers to a geopolitical theory relating to the network
of Chinese intentions in the India Ocean Region (IOR). Precisely, it

refers to the network of military and commercial facilities developed by

China in countries falling in the Indian Ocean between the Chinese
mainland and Port Sudan. The ‘String of Pearls’ hypothesis was first

espoused by a consulting firm of the United States of America in 2005,

which evinced an expansion in China’s civilian maritime commercial
facilities along the Indian Ocean.

2. This theory stemmed from China’s perceived vulnerabilities of its

energy security, which relies heavily on foreign energy sources. This

reliance on foreign energy sources will become more acute with the
rapid economic development of China and therefore, there is a need to

insulate this energy source and its supply routes from external
turbulences.