In this episode, Veerle is joined by Dr Bates Gill, Professor of Asia-Pacific Security Studies at Macquarie University and Senior Associate Fellow at RUSI, to discuss China’s interests, ambitions and strategy in the Indo-Pacific region. Despite Beijing’s dismissal of the term ‘Indo-Pacific’ as a US construct, China approaches the Indian and Pacific Oceans as a connected space that is critical to its national security and global presence. The question is: what role does it seek to play?