Sarah Watson, Author at Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative

Podcast: The Doklam Standoff and Lessons for Maritime Asia, with Zack Cooper and Sarah Watson

By Gregory Poling, Zack Cooper and Sarah Watson | September 6, 2017 | Categories: AMTI Update

AMTI director Gregory Poling speaks with CSIS experts Sarah Watson and Zack Cooper about the months-long standoff between India and China over the Doklam plateau. The conversation covers the origins of the conflict, the resolution of the current crisis, and how the lessons learned can be applied by other states facing Chinese coercion.

Dealmaker in Paradise

By Sarah Watson | March 16, 2017 | Categories: Indian Ocean

A rumored Saudi Arabian plan to buy an atoll in the Maldives is unlikely to significantly alter the Indian Ocean security environment. The concern the plan has provoked, however, is a sign of how sensitive regional governments have become to any developments that appear to threaten the region’s fragile order.

India Needs More Than Cautious Statements on the South China Sea

By Sarah Watson | December 6, 2016 | Categories: Arbitration, India, Indian Ocean

China’s actions since the South China Sea arbitration ruling show that India needs to take a stronger line if it wants to achieve its objectives. Given the importance of the principles at stake, it would be in India’s best interests to take a more forward-looking and forward-leaning approach to the South China Sea dispute.

Colombo Port City and the Limits of India’s Regional Diplomacy

By Sarah Watson | April 11, 2016 | Categories: India, Indian Ocean, Sri Lanka

The restart of construction raises alarm in India that the project will give China increased influence in the Indian Ocean.

China Creates a Second Chance for the ‘Quad’

By Richard Rossow and Sarah Watson | March 14, 2016 | Categories: China, India, Japan, United States

Will Australia, India, Japan and the United States move from exercising together to operating together? In the end, it will probably be China’s actions that determine where the Quad will go next.

Will India Truly Start “Acting East” in Andaman and Nicobar?

By Sarah Watson | November 16, 2015 | Categories: India, Indian Ocean, Indo-Pacific Region

This September, while Indian prime minister Narendra Modi met with tech titans in Silicon Valley, his administration quietly unveiled a $1.5 billion development package for the isolated Andaman and Nicobar island chains, meant to turn the islands’ capital city, Port Blair, into a hub of the ship repair industry by developing port infrastructure. Less than […]

The Bangladesh/Myanmar Maritime Dispute: Lessons for Peaceful Resolution

By Sarah Watson | October 19, 2015 | Categories: Indian Ocean

The March 2012 decision of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in the long-standing Bangladesh/Myanmar maritime border dispute opened up new possibilities for peaceful resolution of such disputes in Asia. While the judgment itself broke important—if technical—legal ground, the two parties’ incentives for entering into litigation in the first place offer […]