The Great Chinese plan

 China shares its land borders with 14 countries but has border disputes with 17 countries!

Before 1947 East Turkestan and Tibet existed as individual countries. In 1949 China invaded East Turkestan and claimed it as a part of itself. 1950 China captured Tibet too, due to which then Dalai lama, Tenzin Gyatso, had to flee to India to protect himself, and since then relations between India and China have been noxious. This is what Beijing has been doing for decades, trying to conquer and increase its territory.

But now this Chinese threat is not just limited to China’s neighboring countries, it is going worldwide since China has acquired some territories in the pacific ocean and the Indian Ocean or we can say the Indo-pacific region, which stretches from the coast of South Africa to Australia and America.  

China has been conquering lands from small and economically weak countries, with its debt trap policy. In simple words, Beijing gives loan to small and economically weak countries which it know, won’t be able to pay back the loan, and it keeps a part of their land as collateral, for example, Sri Lanka’s Hambantota harbor and Pakistan’s Gwadar port.        

The Chinese economy is highly reluctant on the trade route that passes through the Indian Ocean, and so is the world, as 60% to 70% of the world's water trade passes through the Indo-Pacific region. More than 15 projects are being constructed in the Indo-pacific region by China, but the main concern is that Beijing has started militarizing the ports, Djibouti port is one example in the African continent. This chain of ports in the sea region is considered “The string of pearls policy”.

This is a topic of concern especially for India as India is completely encircled by this 
 string of China. In the north India has China itself shares a land border, and in the west, it has Pakistan, Beijing's friend. 

China has placed these ports very strategically, 80 percent of China’s oil imports pass through the Strait of Malacca. Therefore, the Strait of Malacca is indispensable for China until it develops alternative routes. Therefore China is keen to develop good relations with countries like Malaysia and Singapore as they have direct access to the Malacca Strait. 

Gwadar Port in Pakistan is a well-established post of China as it can be used in the case of the Indo-China conflict. Also, a checkpoint for dragons for the Strait of Hormuz, near UAE. The port in Djibouti, which even has been militarized by China, has direct access to the Strait of Bab el-Mandeb forming a gateway for vessels to pass through the Suez Canal, through the east coast of Africa. Suez Canal is a significant source of trade, a portal between East and West, controlled by multiple countries, threatened to ignite war and become a bedrock for the global economy. 

“Quad,” which began when Australia, Japan, India, and the United States first came together to provide humanitarian assistance after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. After a decade, the four countries have reconstituted the Quad in response to China's unanticipated economic and military aggressiveness in the region, with growing agreement among the four maritime democracies on the need to coordinate on a broader strategy to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific region, the "Quad 2.0" has the potential to sway China's policy in a more gentle direction, but it is underutilized and under-operationalized for now.