Four warships from the Eastern Fleet of the Indian Navy are set to be deployed to Southeast Asia, the South China Sea and the greater Western Pacific for over two months. The deployment will include a series of significant activities including naval exercises within the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) framework and strategic engagements with navies from key Southeast Asian countries. The announcement is making waves in the media. However, contrary to the common overused narratives, India’s decision to enhance its presence in the Pacific goes beyond the narrow aim of countering China. Though power competition with China is a vital element in India’s strategic outreach to Southeast Asia, it is not the only factor that motivates its growing engagements in the maritime domain. Rather, reducing India’s strategy merely to one aspect does a great injustice to New Delhi’s multidimensional interests. It is necessary to look at India’s broader interests in the region. Accordingly, this latest development underscores two important aspects for India: expanding its defence industry, and incorporating a more robust great power diplomacy. In his keynote address at the Indian Ocean Region Defence Ministers’ Conclave in February, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh emphasised India’s readiness to supply a variety of missile systems, light combat aircraft and other weapons systems to friendly countries in the Indian Ocean and beyond. Furthermore, India has been fast-tracking its indigenous capabilities not only in weapons manufacturing, but also in shipbuilding. India has 28 shipyards. Despite some hurdles, the industry has been slowly expanding capacity. What better way to promote India’s manufacturing capabilities than to showcase its work first-hand? The four Indian warships to be dispatched to the Pacific comprise the guided-missile destroyer INS Ranvijay, the guided-missile frigate INS Shivalik, the anti-submarine corvette INS Kadmatt and the guided-missile corvette INS Kora. The latter three ships were locally designed and are equipped with a wide array of weapons and sensors. They serve as an important cornerstone in the “Make in India” initiative . Southeast Asian countries are often seen to be at the receiving end of China’s coercive and assertive activities in the South China Sea. This has, in turn, catalysed a significant demand among these countries to enhance their navy and overall defence capabilities. India has been a major stakeholder in Southeast Asia’s security for decades. In fact, since 2014, India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has spearheaded a more proactive role as a security provider in the region through its “Act East” policy . Under this policy, it has sought to establish military ties with Southeast Asian countries, which has led to the signing of a series of defence-related agreements with countries such as the Philippines in 2017 and 2021 , Indonesia in 2018, Vietnam in 2020, and Singapore in 2021. India’s latest Agni-P missile no great threat to China: experts Against this backdrop, India has also been promoting its indigenous defence industry. The naval engagements over the next few weeks will showcase its own manufacturing prowess and cutting-edge technology. As key Southeast Asian countries look to modernise and diversify their naval capacity, India has the potential to make more effective pitches to penetrate their defence markets. India’s active involvement in the South China Sea also implies a grander understanding of its ambitions. India has often been labelled a rising great power. However, to achieve such ambitions, it needs to put more effort into translating its vast resources into effective policies to project power and influence. Andrew Heywood, in his book Global Politics , provides helpful criteria for a country to qualify as a great power: first, it must be in the top rank for military prowess, having the capacity to maintain its own security and, potentially, influence others; second, it must be economically powerful; third, it must have global, and not merely peripheral, spheres of interest; and fourth, it must adopt a forward-looking foreign policy. India undoubtedly possesses a robust military and large economy (despite the negative effects of the Covid-19 pandemic); however, these material capabilities are not enough to solidify its position as a potential great power. India must also maintain a significant level of presence beyond its immediate neighbourhood to show that its interests are global rather than regional or subregional. Moreover, with an expanded foreign policy outlook, India will be able to showcase its potential to be a responsible and important stakeholder in global affairs. Is India changing its approach towards disputed border with China? India has maintained its position as a benign, rising great power. Its objectives in the South China Sea and the greater Pacific largely focus on projecting itself as a major player and security provider, while seeking to preserve stability, peace, and the rules of international order. It does not wish to enhance its strategic presence in the Pacific at the expense of any country, including China, as engaging in any sort of direct competition would be counterproductive. However, due to China’s expansive and assertive actions throughout the Indo-Pacific, particularly along the Line of Actual Control and in the Indian Ocean, India has been recalibrating, given that its previous policies to deter China’s actions have not been entirely effective. This competitive dynamic is clearly part of its broader outreach to Southeast Asia, but is not the primary objective. India-China competition may be an important factor in global geopolitics, but it serves merely as one part of New Delhi’s comprehensive foreign and strategic policies. It is important to look at other areas to get a better understanding of India’s policy objectives and decisions. Don McLain Gill is a resident fellow at the Manila-based International Development and Security Cooperation and director for South and Southeast Asia at the Philippine-Middle East Studies Association