Remaking the Indo-Pacific: The Indian Ocean and China’s rise

Join us for a conversation with Darshana M. Baruah and Oriana Skylar Mastro as they launch trailblazing new books, The Contest for the Indian Ocean and Upstart: How China became a Great Power, respectively. 

 In The Contest for the Indian Ocean, Baruah explores how the Indian Ocean has become a central stage for geopolitical competition, highlighting its strategic importance and the ambitions of global powers vying for influence in the region. Meanwhile, in Upstart, Mastro offers a compelling analysis of China's unconventional path to great power status, revealing the strategies that enabled its rise without triggering a major global backlash.

The authors, both leading regional security experts, will deliberate some of the key drivers reshaping the region. The discussion will be moderated by the Lowy Institute’s Director of Research, Hervé Lemahieu, and include questions from the audience.

About the authors:

Darshana M. Baruah is a nonresident scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a renowned expert on maritime security and the Indo-Pacific region.

Dr Oriana Skylar Mastro is a Center Fellow at Stanford University’s Freeman Spogli Institute and a leading scholar on Chinese military and security policy.

 *Refreshments will be served*