New Delhi, June 8 -- The twenty-first century is increasingly shaped by maritime geopolitics. While global attention often focuses on the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait, another key maritime area is quickly becoming a center of economic competition, security cooperation, and geopolitical rivalry: the Bay of Bengal.

The Bay of Bengal stretches between South and Southeast Asia. It has changed from a regional water body into a vital part of the broader Indo-Pacific strategic landscape. Home to nearly 1.7 billion people across its coastal states and connected to economies worth trillions of dollars, the Bay is now at the crossroads of global trade routes, energy security, maritime connections, and great-power competition. Recent event...