China depends heavily on crude oil arriving by sea from the Persian Gulf, which makes disruption or delay along the route a national strategic concern. Chinese anti-piracy deployments directly express that interest rather than representing an inexplicable departure from home waters. Even customs inspections or delays imposed along the route could create pressure without an outright blockade. Indian and Chinese carrier groups can therefore shadow one another as instruments of signalling and supervision in the Indian Ocean without immediately seeking combat.
Chapter · 57:32-1:01:47
Sea lines of communication give China another carrier mission
China's dependence on seaborne oil imports from the Persian Gulf makes Indian Ocean routes and distant naval presence strategically important in a way the Soviet case was not.