Commentary To make new forays into the Indian Ocean, the Chinese regime has found an alternate route in its new rail line through Burma (also known as Myanmar)—the first to link western China with the Indian Ocean. With Burma acting as the land bridge, the rail line would allow China to build a strategic network—from Yunnan Province in the southwest through Burma to the Indian Ocean—that provides a secure route to its trade and energy imports. Since 95 percent of its trade and 80 percent of its energy imports pass through the Indian Ocean into the Straits of Malacca, China is anxious over maritime chokepoints such as the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb. Thus, Beijing wants to add such a maritime dimension to its geopolitical aspirations in order to safeguard its strategic and growing interests in the Indo-Pacific region. The Indian Ocean is the new limit to China’s great …