With China's rise in South Asia, India's neighbours have greater demands

China's activities in South Asia are both visible and opaque, competing in a space India used to dominate.

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In an edited report that covers different aspects of Beijing's engagement with South Asia, Constantino Xavier, senior fellow at the Centre for Social and Economic Progress, and Jabin Jacob, associate professor, Department of International Relations and Governance Studies, Shiv Nadar Institute of Eminence, say India needs to build strategic capacity to better assess demand from neighbours and then deliver on time. Aditi Phadnis caught up with them in an interview partly on email. Edited excerpts:

Your latest report "How China Engages South Asia: In the Open and Behind the Scenes" is out. What are its findings?

The 12 case studies show that China is expanding the themes and number of partners it is engaging as well as building on its tools to enhance influence across South Asia. It is openly competing in a space where India's role used to be predominant. Beyond the hard and more visible dimensions of trade, investment, or defence supplies, we show that China's engagements also operate on softer dimensions that shape the governance, including legal regimes, politics, and perceptions in countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, and Bangladesh. These efforts and investment by Beijing can be leveraged or even weaponised one day with obvious economic, security and political implications for India.