The phrase “String of Pearls” was first used in a 2004 report by the US consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton titled “Energy Futures in Asia.” ¹ It was said that the region’s friendly nations should build infrastructure to enable an unimpeded flow of energy through the Indian Ocean. The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which was introduced by the Chinese president Xi Jinping in 2013, effectively reclaimed the Western narrative of a strategic string of pearls and therefore legitimised China’s century-old global connectivity scheme. From the contentious Hambantota Port in Sri Lanka to China’s naval station in Djibouti, Beijing has since grabbed headlines with its large investments in maritime infrastructure.