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In the Indian Ocean Region, China's economic and strategic interests are converging as many of its investments lie along the vital ocean routes needed to literally and figuratively fuel its growing economy. The rollout of Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative, against the backdrop of, and in line with this convergence, has raised concerns about the military-strategic utility of various infrastructure projects. The increased economic connectivity that drives the Belt and Road has inherent strategic consequences, but the degree to which geostrategic factors drive investments divides analysts. Some believe that certain ports have been purposefully selected as future bases for China's navy. To address the difficulty of comprehending China's foreign policy decisions, this thesis draws on a neoclassical realist interpretation of international relations, and uses geographical location, collective memory, strategic culture, and domestic politics to develop a better understanding of Chinese policymakers' perceptions of their international security environment. This study develops methodology to evaluate the strategic value of a site in context to different basing strategies. The work sheds light on how China views its future position in the world by deciphering intentions behind Chines investments in ports...

The presented doctoral thesis analyses energy security in the Central Asia region, with an emphasis on the natural gas sector. The research sought to answer the question of whether individual state actors in Central Asia are more inclined towards a strategic-oriented or market-oriented approach to energy policy in the formulation of their respective energy policy. Answering this research question aimed at better understanding the approach of individual state actors to large infrastructure projects, such as the construction of the Central Asia-China Gas Pipeline. A regional energy security complex of Central Asia was constructed for work purposes. In addition to the five Central Asian states, it also includes Russia and China as two major natural gas importers from the region. Based on theoretical literature, a model for assessing the natural gas sector in terms of the formulation of energy policy by individual state actors was developed. This model was subsequently applied to three case studies of key state actors within the Central Asian regional energy security complex. These are case studies on Turkmenistan, Russia and China. Applying the model's criteria to individual cases, the research concluded that for all three players in the Central Asian regional energy security complex, a...