hina In the last few decades, China’s subtle but incredibly increasing multi-dimensional influence in countries across the globe has been the single most trailblazing phenomenon in the international order. From investments in infrastructure in economically and developmentally lacking countries to instalment of its media and digital surveillance architecture overseas, this ambitious attempt of building global hegemony ‘with Chinese characteristics’ has garnered all kinds of debates and definitions.

However, as talked about as this development is, sometimes with fascination, sometimes with paranoia, systematic, evidence-based tools to map and quantify it remain wanting. This is precisely where the actions of the Taiwan-based think tank Doublethink Lab are directed, particularly, through their China Index project.

Under the China Index initiative, the research group evaluates the Communist Party of China’s (CCP) activities and publishes comparative data analysis using observable inputs from regional partners and local experts, across nine different domains of influence. These are academia, domestic politics, economy, foreign policy, law enforcement, media, military, society, and technology. The current version of the index compiles data collected between January 2022 to October 2024 from 101 countries spanning 9 regions. The index, in addition to cumulative assessments, maintains country-specific ‘influence profiles’ that detail the extent of the PRC’s penetration into a given country, corroborated by supporting evidence in the form of links to news and other research reports.

Unsurprisingly, the country that leads the overall ranking as well as the regional ranking in South Asia is Pakistan, preserving its streak since the 2022 China Index report. Bonding over their shared rivalry with India, Pakistan’s existential dependence on China for economic support and supply of military equipment, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), as well as their joint attempts to safeguard each other against global efforts to enforce counterterrorism and human rights measures, the two have forged a deep strategic partnership. Following Pakistan in the region is Nepal with its overall ranking at 11.

Again, Chinese interests in Nepal are primarily motivated by the strategy of counteracting the Indian influence in the........

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