File photo: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan (Picture credit: PTI)
NEW DELHI: Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan on Sunday said that the global contest for power, once limited to land and air dominance, has now extended into space, cyberspace and the cognitive domain. As quoted by news agency ANI, he said that India, being both a continental and maritime power, holds a predominant position in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), making it the “first responder and preferred partner of choice” for many countries.Addressing the 9th Military Literature Festival 2025 in Chandigarh, themed ‘Heartland and Rimland Powers in a Multi-domain Warfare and India’, Gen Chauhan said that a nation’s geography continues to shape its strategic options. Citing British author Tim Marshall’s book “Prisoners of Geography”, he noted, “A nation’s location and its geographic characteristics determine its ability to project power and provide strategic options, regardless of its size.”Reflecting on India’s post-independence challenges, the CDS said, “If you look at the geopolitical events of the 20th century — India’s partition, the coming of Pakistan, our war with China — [these] forced India to have a continental kind of an outlook. But if you have a look at India’s geography, I think it says that India is both a continental and a maritime power.”He added, “Over a century, the struggle for global power has been about control of geography, the seas, the continents, the skies — and today, it extends to space, cyberspace, and the cognitive domain.”As per ANI, Gen Chauhan illustrated his point by referring to Djibouti and Singapore, describing them as small nations with significant strategic importance. “Djibouti lies at the Bab el Mandeb and Singapore at the Strait of Malacca — both not only strategically important but also vital for trade,” he said. He also mentioned Indonesia’s key maritime straits — Malacca, Sunda, Lombok, and Ombai-Wetar, which connect the Pacific and Indian Oceans, underlining their importance for global trade routes.Through his remarks, the CDS emphasised the evolving nature of multi-domain warfare and highlighted India’s growing strategic role in the Indo-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.