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A months-long clash between India and China on their Himalaya border has dramatically increased tensions.
But the growing rivalry between the two Asian powers is also likely to play out in the Indian Ocean.
China's navy is capable and only getting bigger, and India is trying to catch up.
Last year, an all-out brawl between Chinese and Indian troops along the disputed Sino-Indian border killed 20 Indian and at least four Chinese soldiers.
The medieval-style battle in the Himalayas showed that the countries' rivalry is entering a new phase of intensity.
"China is definitely factoring larger and larger in India's defense strategy today," Timothy Heath, a senior international and defense researcher at the Rand Corporation think tank, told Insider.