India’s Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Anil Chauhan warned that a growing strategic alignment among China, Pakistan and Bangladesh could undermine regional stability and pose new security challenges for New Delhi. Speaking in New Delhi on 9 July at the launch of the Observer Research Foundation’s Foreign Policy Survey 2024, he said “possible convergence of interests” among the three neighbours would have “security implications” for India, especially as political shifts in South Asia continue. Gen. Chauhan also drew lessons from May’s 87-hour Operation Sindoor against Pakistan, noting that Islamabad escalated the confrontation into conventional warfare. While 81 percent of Pakistan’s recent military hardware came from China, he said Beijing’s direct state involvement in the conflict was “very difficult to define”, given the presence of Chinese original-equipment makers and commercial satellite-imagery firms. The CDS added that the global order is in flux and that the U.S. approach to the Indo-Pacific further complicates the landscape for India. Economic distress in Indian Ocean nations, combined with outside powers’ use of debt diplomacy, is creating additional openings for influence that New Delhi must monitor, he said. Gen. Chauhan concluded that India must maintain strategic autonomy without isolating itself in an increasingly contested neighbourhood.