Do not believe rivalry between India,China is inevitable: NSA

The NSA also described as the new normal,the crossing of India and China navies into waters that were traditionally considered beyond their domain. Last decade or so,Indian presence in waters east of Mallaca and Chinese presence in west of Mallaca has become the new normal. It is a reality and has come without apparent friction, Menon said.

Raja Mohan,a well-known security and strategy analyst,said earlier that two things that his new book focuses on are whether India and China can ever really be maritime powers,given their history of being driven by continental concerns and is whether there is a possibility of Indias competition with China,given the vast gulf that divides them at present.

Speaking at a panel discussion that was attended by The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta,NSA Menon,former foreign secretary Shyam Saran and Rear Admiral retd Raja Menon,the author said his book explains the danger of the expanding maritime footprints of the two nations.

The book goes into why we need to be aware of the danger of it and how to mitigate the rivalry through cooperation and dialogues. As Indias economy becomes globalised,the maritime domain will draw us more and more and will pose extraordinary challenges to our thinking that has traditionally been of a continental culture, he said.

Gupta,who described the book as forward looking at a time when many are looking back in history to draw lessons,said Raja Mohan has managed once again to think differently by identifying the maritime domain as the challenge of the future.

Referring to Raja Mohans earlier book Crossing the Rubicon-The Shaping of Indias New Foreign Policy,Gupta said the author was the first to get the crucial transition in Indian foreign policy after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its engagement with Washington.